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THE  ELEMENTS  OF 
PUBLIC    SPEAKING 


BY 


HARRY  GARFIELD  HOUGHTON,  M.A. 

ASSISTANT   PROFESSOR  OF   PUBLIC    SPEAKING   IN   THE 
UNIVERSITY   OF   WISCONSIN 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON     •     NEW   YORK     •    CHICAGO     •    LONDON 
ATLANTA     •     DALLAS     •    COLUMBUS     •    SAN    FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1916,  BY  HARRY  GARFIELD  HOUGHTON 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


Wfjt  gtftengum  3grc<< 

GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


TO 

MY  WIFE 

WHO   HAS  BEEN  OF  CONSTANT  ASSISTANCE 

AND  INSPIRATION  TO  ME 

IN  THE  PREPARATION  OF  MY   MANUSCRIPT 

THIS   BOOK   IS  AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED 


392397 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


N 


http://www.archive.org/details/elementsofpublicOOhougrich 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  designed  to  meet  a  special  need.  It 
makes  no  pretense  of  running  the  whole  gamut  of  expres- 
sion and  furnishing  the  student  with  all  he  needs  to 
know  from  elementary  speaking  to  advanced  argumenta- 
tion or  interpretative  reading.  It  is  limited  to  a  single 
field  and  chiefly  to  the  work  of  a  single  course.  It  is  the 
outgrowth  of  a  need  that  I  have  long  felt  in  my  classes 
for  a  textbook  which,  without  entering  into  unnecessary 
detail,  would  furnish  the  student  with  the  essentials  for 
instruction  in  practical  speaking. 

After  experimenting  with  this  problem  for  several  years 
it  is  my  conclusion  that  for  courses  in  practical  speaking 
two  things  are  essential : 

First,  a  definite  amount  of  accurately  expressed  theory ; 
that  is,  enough  theory  of  the  subject  so  that  the  student 
will  not  have  to  work  blindly.  This  theory  should  be  pre- 
sented clearly  and  comprehensively,  that  he  may  be  able 
to  grasp  it  easily  without  having  to  flounder  among  tech- 
nicalities which  he  has  neither  time  nor  need  to  master. 

Second,  a  maximum  of  practice.  Each  problem  as  it 
is  presented  should  be  put  into  immediate  practice  by 
means  of  actual  speech  work  upon  the  platform,  and  this 
practice  should  be  kept  up  constantly  from  the  first 
recitation  till  the  last.  Without  this,  any  theory  of  the 
subject  that  may  be  presented  is  valueless.  It  is  the  actual 
doing,  and  this  alone,  that  brings  results. 


vi  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  textbook  to  present  a  clear 
statement  of  the  elements  of  public  speaking  in  accord- 
ance with  these  two  ends.  The  plan  is  to  devote  a  chapter 
to  each  important  principle,  and  to  present  it  in  a  form 
that  is  both  comprehensive  and  readable,  so  that  the 
student  upon  reading  the  chapter  carefully  will  have  a 
clear  and  definite  idea  of  it  as  a  unified  whole,  not  as  a 
mass  of  mere  fragmentary  suggestions,  and  will  be  able 
with  the  aid  of  the  exercises  at  the  close  of  the  chapter 
to  put  it  at  once  into  actual  practice. 

Another  aim  throughout  the  book  is  to  keep  before  the 
student  constantly  the  importance  of  clear  and  accurate 
thinking  as  the  foundation  for  all  true  expression,  and  to 
make  absolutely  unmistakable  the  fact  that  any  expression 
that  is  without  thotight  as  a  basis  is  bound  to  be  more  or 
less  mechanical  and,  therefore,  superficial.  My  observation 
has  been  that  many  people  who  think  very  clearly  express 
their  thoughts  very  badly  through  the  voice,  and  that 
mere  attention  to  the  thought  alone  is  by  no  means 
always  adequate.  This  book  aims  to  teach  the  importance 
of  clear  thinking  as  the  foundation  of  all  vocal  processes, 
but  no  less  does  it  aim  to  show  the  necessity  for  vocal 
and  actional  responsiveness  as  the  medium  through  which 
thought  must  find  expression.  Therefore  each  principle 
is  considered  in  its  relation  to  the  thought,  and  in  such 
a  manner  as  will  enable  the  student  to  proceed  always 
upon  a  thought  basis. 

I  should  perhaps  add  that  this  is  in  no  sense  ''a  book  of 
speeches."  Such  excerpts  from  orations  and  other  litera- 
ture as  have  been  used  are  in  most  instances  very  brief  and 
are  employed  chiefly  for  purposes  of  illustration.   As  soon 


PREFACE  vii 

as  this  volume  is  off  the  press  I  intend  to  publish  a  book 
of  selections  that  will  provide  suitable  material  for  teachers 
who  desire  to  secure  selections  of  a  thoroughly  practical 
nature  for  purposes  of  declamation.  But  in  my  judgment 
such  material  has  no  place  in  a  book  of  this  kind,  the  aim 
of  which  is  to  present  the  elements  of  public  speaking. 

If  this  book  shall  serve  to  correct  some  of  the  false 
conceptions  that  have  been  prevalent  in  regard  to  the 
subject  of  public  speaking,  and  shall  furnish  the  student 
a  foundation  for  practical  speech  work,  my  purpose  will 
be  accomplished. 

Throughout  I  have  tried  to  make  careful  reference  to 
all  material  quoted  from  books  or  from  the  words  of  men 
in  public  life.  To  these  sources  I  am  indebted  for  many 
things  that  have  helped  in  making  clear  the  principles 
that  have  been  considered.  And  to  those  who  by  help- 
ful criticism  have  offered  suggestions  of  much  value  to 
me  —  to  my  colleagues  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
Professors  J.  M.  O'Neill,  Gertrude  E.  Johnson,  and 
Smiley  Blanton  of  the  Department  of  Public  Speaking ; 
to  Professors  H.  B.  Lathrop  and  O.  J.  Campbell  of  the 
Department  of  English,  and  to  Mr.  L.  C.  Hull  of 
the  Department  of  Psychology ;  to  Professors  B.  F. 
Tanner  of  the  University  of  Oklahoma  and  J.  S.  Gaylord 
of  the  Winona  Normal  School ;  to  the  Newton  Publish- 
ing Company  for  permission  to  quote  some  passages 
from  Phillips's  Effective  Speaking;  and  to  my  wife  for 
advice  and  encouragement  throughout  the  preparation  of 
this  volume  —  I  gratefully  acknowledge  my  indebtedness. 

H.  G.  HOUGHTON 
Madison,  Wisconsin 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.    PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  .         .         .  i 


Chagsing  a  subject.  The  object  of  a  speech.  Thp  five  general 
,_?cfe.  A»Sfy*tS'-*'*li]icsubject.  Drawing  a  tentative  outline.  The 
final  speech  plan.  Assimilating  the  outline.  Practical  exercises 
in  outline-making. 


^ 


CHAPTER  n.   THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE       .        37 

Misconceptions  of  speech  delivery.  Conventional  pulpit  ora- 
tory. The  oratory  of  Wendell  Phillips.  The  essentially  conver- 
sational in  delivery.  Limits  of  the  conversational  mode.  Recited, 
ministerial,  and  grandiloquent  forms.  Exercises  for  gaining  the 
conversational  mode. 

CHAPTER  III.   ACTION 57 

The  true  foundation  of  action.  Some  common  misconceptions. 
Value  of  training  in  action.  Two  essentials  of  training  in  action. 
Importance  of  exercising  the  will.  Platform  manners.  Position. 
Poise.  Freedom.  Platform  movement.  Coordination  of  mind 
and  body. 

CHAPTER  IV.    GESTURE 85 

What  to  seek  and  what  to  avoid.  The  logical  cultivation  of 
gesture.  Special  aids  for  cultivating  gesture.  Expressiveness 
in  gesture.  The  importance  of  reserve  power.  The  ideal  of  ex- 
pression through  gesture.  Different  uses  of  gesture.  Exercises 
for  the  cultivation  of  action. 

CHAPTER  V.   THE  BREATH no 

The  vocal  mechanism.  The  breath  as  employed  in  speech. 
Three  methods  of  breathing.  Correct  breathing  for  voice  pro- 
duction. Tidal  and  corRplemental  air.  A  scientific  experiment 
in  breath  control.  The  prime  essential  in  the  use  of  the  breath. 
Practical  exercises  in  breath  control. 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


CHAPTER  VI.    ENUNCIATION 127 

Enunciation  and  pronunciation  compared.  Causes  of  poor 
enunciation.  The  foundation  of  correct  enunciation.  Enuncia- 
tion and  loudness.  Common  faults  of  enunciation.  The  acquir- 
ing of  good  enunciation.  The  commercial  importance  of  clear 
speaking.    Exercises  for  the  cultivation  of  good  enunciation. 

CHAPTER  VII.    PRONUNCIATION      ....      143 

Pronunciation  defined.    Problems  of  pronunciation.   The  sec- 
tional.   The  unusual.    British  versus  American  usage.    How  to      '^^ 
become  proficient  in  pronunciation.    Cases  illustrating  common 
misuses.     Errors   of  vowels,    consonants,   accent,  syllabication. 
Exercises  for  gaining  proficiency  in  pronunciation. 

CHAPTER  VIII.    PITCH 186 

Pitch  as  a  vocal  element.  The  melody  of  speech.  The  com- 
pass of  the  speaking  voice.  False  adjustments  of  the  voice. 
The  point  of  departure  in  the  study  of  pitch.  A  comparison  of 
song  and  speech.  Influence  of  song  notes  in  speech.  General 
laws  of  inflection.  Establishing  key.  The  cultivation  of  vocal 
flexibility. 

CHAPTER  IX.    TIME 209 

Time  as  an  element  of  effective  expression.  Quantity  values 
in  speech.  The  quantity  elements  of  poetry  and  prose.  The 
function  of  pause.  Rhetorical  and  grammatical  pause.  Phrasing. 
Rhythm.  Rate.  Practical  importance  of  speech  rhythm.  Exer- 
cises for  cultivating  the  time  elements  of  speech. 

CHAPTER  X.    QUALITY 244 

The  foundation  of  vocal  quality.  Influence  of  the  emotions. 
Physiological  basis  of  vocal  quality.  Classifications  of  formal 
elocution.  Why  voices  lack  vocal  color.  Emotional  responses. 
Cultivaiion  of  vocal  color  through  imagination ;  through  expres- 
sive literature  ;  through  extempore  speaking. 

CHAPTER  XI.    FORCE 268 

Force  as  a  persuasive  element  in  expression.  Factors  deter- 
mining acoustic  conditions.  Problems  of  various  auditoriums. 
How  to  meet  acoustic  conditions.  Force  as  a  means  of  securing 
variety.  Importance  of  the  principle  of  reserve  power.  Exer- 
cises for  gaining  skill  in  the  use  of  force. 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XII.    EMPHASIS 285 

The  function  of  emphasis.  The  determining  factor  of  empha- 
sis. Emphasis  not  a  mechanical  principle.  Emphasis  dependent 
upon  the  context.  The  importance  of  accurate  thinking.  Logi- 
cal employment  of  emphasis.  Vocal  training  a  prerequisite. 
Emphasis  by  means  of  pitch,  time,  quality,  and  force. 

APPENDIX  I.    SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS         .      313 

APPENDIX  II.    DECLAMATION 318 

INDEX 329 


ALLTIME  AND  MONEY  SPENT  IN 
TRAINING  THE  VOICE  AND  BODY 
IS  AN  INVESTMENT  THAT  PAYS  A 
LARGER  INTEREST  THAN  ANY  OTHER 
William   E.  Gladstone 


THE   ELEMENTS 
OF   PUBLIC   SPEAKING 


CHAPTER  I 
PLANNING  THE  SPEECH 

Since  the  purpose  of  this  textbook  is  mainly  to  set 
forth  the  principles  of  effective  speech  delivery,  but  a 
single  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  speech 
structure.  It  has  seemed  advisable  to  give  some  very 
simple  directions  in  regard  to  choosing  a  subject  and 
developing  a  theme  for  purposes  of  extempore  speaking. 
These  directions  will  give  the  learner  the  assurance  and 
confidence  at  the  outset  that  his  discussion  of  any  given 
topic  will  not  be  merely  a  rambling,  hit-and-miss  talk, 
but  rather  a  logical  and  well-ordered  development  of  the 
theme  upon  which  he  has  chosen  to  speak. 

The  first  problera  that  presents  itself  is  that  of  the 
choice_of  a_subject.  Sometimes  the  speaker's  subject  is 
assigned  to  him,  so  that  this  matter  needs  no  considera- 
tion, but  very  often  it  is  not,  and  he  must  rely  upon  his 
own  judgment  in  making  the  choice.  If  his  judgment  in 
this  respect  is  poor,  it  often  means  the  complete  failure  of 
his  speech.  A  very  great  deal  depends,  as  he  will  soon 
discover,  upon  a  well-chosen  subject.  It  is  desirable  that 
some  standards  of  judgment  be  formed  in  regard  to  what 
is  and  what  is  not  the  proper  selection  of  a  subject. 


2    \     ]  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

>   c  ,•  e      ,»  c    '        '     '  <     (  ,      , ,     . 

Subject  iiiu^l;  be  appropriate.  The  first  consideration 
in  the  choice  of  a  subject  is  that  of  the  occasion  upon 
which  the  speech  is  to  be  deHvered.  Most  occasions 
have  a  sufficiently  well-defined  end  and  purpose  to 
suggest  naturally  to  the  speaker  an  appropriate  theme. 
The  aim  of  a  Memorial  Day  or  Christmas  service  is  so 
clearly  defined  that  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  choos- 
ing an  appropriate  subject  for  discussion.  But  upon  some 
occasions  this  is  not  the  case,  and  it  requires  both  tact 
and  good  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  speaker  to  deter- 
mine upon  a  subject  that  will  be  entirely  appropriate.  The 
occasion  in  which  most  of  the  readers  of  this  chapter  will 
be  most  directly  concerned  —  a  program  of  speeches  in  a 
class  in  extempore  speaking  —  is  a  good  example  of  this. 
Here  the  occasion  does  not  in  any  very  definite  way  define 
the  subjects  to  be  discussed,  and  as  a  result  the  student  is 
often  much  at  a  loss  to  think  of  anything  at  all  to  talk  about. 
How,  then,  shall  he  decide  upon  a  subject  appropriate  for 
an  extempore  talk  to  the  public-speaking  class  ? 

Subject  must  be  vital.  An  appropriate  subject  for  a 
talk  of  this  kind  will  naturally  be,  if  the  student  stops  to 
think  about  it  seriously,  one  that  he  is  sure  his  classmates 
will  be  interested  in.  Topics  of  interest  in  the  school  and 
about  the  campus  will  probably  suggest  themselves  first 
of  all.  These  furnish  an  almost  inexhaustible  supply  of 
good  subjects  for  him  to  select  from.  But  in  making  his 
choice  he  will  do  well  to  consult  his  own  interest  as  well 
as  the  interests  of  the  class.  If  he  is  greatly  interested 
in  athletics  and  very  little  in  forensics,  he  would  not 
be  likely  to  give  as  effective  a  speech  upon  the  inter- 
collegiate debate  as  upon  the  big  game  of  the  season. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  3 

So  it  is  altogether  essential  that  he  choose  a  subject  that 
is  vital  both  to  himself  and  to  his  classmates. 

Topics  of  interest  to  a  public-speaking  class,  however, 
are  by  no  means  confined  to  campus  topics.  Recently 
a  student  in  one  of  my  classes,  who  came  from  South 
Africa,  gave  a  talk  upon  '*  The  Horrors  of  War "  and 
illustrated  it  by  incidents  of  the  Boer  War  which  he  had 
personally  witnessed.  It  made  one  of  the  most  profound 
impressions  of  any  speech  I  have  ever  heard  in  the  class- 
room. Another  student  from  the  South  spoke  of  lynch 
law  in  the  Southern  states,  describing  a  lynching  that  he 
had  seen  as  a  boy  in  his  home  town.  No  subject  could 
have  been  discussed  with  greater  earnestness  and  fervor. 

The  best  subjects,  then,  for  the  student  to  speak  upon 
are  those  about  which  he  is  particularly  well  informed  and 
of  which  he  has,  if  possible,  some  first-hand  information. 
This  has  the  twofold  advantage  of  enabling  him  to  speak 
with  much  greater  earnestness  of  purpose  than  he  would 
likely  do  otherwise,  and  also  of  giving  much  greater  weight 
to  his  opinions.  His  hearers  feel  that  he  is  speaking  out 
of  the  fullness  of  his  own  experience,  which  lends  to  his 
opinions  no  small  degree  of  authority.  This  principle  is 
equally  true  in  the  choice  of  a  subject  for  any  occasion. 
We  tend  always  to  have  respect  for  the  opinions  of  one 
who  speaks  with  recognized  authority. 

This  principle  is  not  uncommonly  violated  in  the 
choice  of  a  subject  for  a  school  or  college  oration.  The 
student,  perhaps,  has  nothing  in  particular  that  he  wants 
to  speak  upon,  so  he  chooses  offhand  some  economic 
or  social  topic  and  proceeds  to  write  an  oration  upon 
it,  although  he  has  no  particular  interest  in  the  subject 


4  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

nor  any  special  information  in  regard  to  it.  The  result 
is  usually  the  hollow  kind  of  speaking  which  we  hear 
so  frequently  in  speaking  contests.  To  be  sure,  it  is 
altogether  possible  for  him  to  work  up  a  very  genuine 
interest  by  reading  upon  the  subject,  and  to  gain  enough 
information  about  it  to  enable  him  to  write  a  thoroughly 
effective  oration,  but  there  is  not  likely  to  be  just  the 
same  interest  as  that  which  he  would  have  in  something 
that  came  directly  out  of  his  own  experience  and 
observation. 

Let  the  student,  then,  for  his  beginning  work  at  least, 
try  to  find  subjects  for  discussion  that  he  knows  a  good 
deal  about  and  upon  which  he  can  give  his  hearers  some 
really  worth-while  information.  To  find  such  subjects 
does  not  always  seem  to  be  an  easy  thing.  The  average 
student  will  say  that  he  has  never  had  experience  along 
any  particular  line  that  is  worth  talking  about.  The 
reason  is  that  he  does  not  stop  to  think  whether  he  really 
has  or  not.  If  he  does  take  time  to  think,  he  will  be 
sure  to  find  that  he  has  had  a  good  many  experiences 
that  are  very  well  worth  basing  a  speech  upon. 

Subject  best  determined  by  the  speaker.  The  best 
plan  is  usually  to  let  the  student  choose  his  own  subject. 
If  the  subject  is  prescribed  by  the  teacher  it  may  be 
quite  foreign  to  the  student,  in  which  case  he  will  speak 
upon  it  from  "a  sense  of  obligation  rather  than  because 
of  any  vital  interest  in  the  theme. 

The  plan  that  has  proved  most  satisfactory  in  my 
own  classes  is  that  of  taking  up  with  the  class  at  the 
beginning  of  the  semester  certain  well-defined  occasions. 
The  class  is  given  the  privilege  of  deciding  what  the 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  5 

occasions  are  to  be.  This  gives  unity  and  purpose  to 
each  program  and  the  student  is  left  entirely  free  to 
choose  his  own  subject,  limited  only  by  the  requirement 
that  it  be  one  suited  to  the  program  decided  upon. 
This  is  particularly  valuable  training  for  the  student  in 
learning  the  art  of  choosing  and  adapting  a  theme  to 
a  given  occasion. 

If  he  has  worked  in  a  factory  and  knows  the  unique 
process  by  which  a  certain  commercial  product  is  manu- 
factured, he  would  be  able  to  give  the  class  very 
interesting  information  that  they  had  probably  never 
heard  of  regarding  the  production  of  a  very  well-known, 
everyday  necessity.  Or  perhaps  he  has  had  the  experi- 
ence of  being  employed  about  a  theater  and  can  give 
his  classmates  some  most  interesting  information  of  stage 
life  ''  behind  the  scenes." 

The  reason  experiences  of  this  kind  do  not  seem  to 
the  student  to  be  worth  while  talking  about  is  because 
they  are  all  so  familiar  and  cornmonplace  to  him  that  he 
does  not  stop  to  think  that  everyone  else  does  not  know 
as  much  about  them  as  he  does. 

Desirable  themes  drawn  from  daily  studies  and  ex- 
periences. But  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  for  the 
student  to  have  had  some  unique  or  striking  experience 
in  order  to  find  a  good  subject  for  a  speech.  His  regular 
studies  and  daily  experiences  furnish  an  abundance  of 
very  worth-while  material.  Recently  a  student  who  is 
specializing  in  history  chose  as  her  subject  for  a  class- 
room discussion  ''  The  Real  Facts  in  Regard  to  the 
Reconstruction  Period."  The  talk  was  an  unusual  one. 
It    cleared    up    many    of    the    common    misconceptions 


6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

regarding  this  very  important  period  in  American  history, 
and  gave  the  class  some  real  information  that  they  will 
not  be  likely  to  forget. 

Speech  subjects  of  this  kind  are  the  ones  that  are  really 
worth  while  both  for  the  student  who  speaks  and  for  those 
who  listen.  The  courses  which  students  pursue  regularly 
abound  in  topics  of  this  kind,  that  are  admirably  suited  for 
purposes  of  public  speaking  and  are  both  interesting  and 
profitable.  And  they  are  by  no  means  confined  to  such 
fields  as  history,  literature,  economics,  or  sociology.  Quite 
as  worth-while  topics  may  be  found  in  the  realms  of  home 
economics,  landscape  gardening,  or  farm  management. 

Let  the  student  talk  upon  those  things  in  which  he 
is  most  interested,  remembering  always  that  he  cannot 
assume  the  same  technical  knowledge  of  the  subject  on 
the  part  of  a  general  group  of  students  that  he  himself 
may  have.  But  there  will  be  no  lack  of  interest  if  his 
theme  is  made  vital  to  their  interests  and  experiences  and 
is  treated  in  a  sufficiently  untechnical  manner.  A  medi- 
cal student  talking  upon  "  The  Traffic  in  Fraud  "  brought 
home  in  a  very  personal  way  to  a  public-speaking  class 
the  dangers  to  health  and  life  involved  in  the  patent- 
medicine  business. 

Discrimination  in  choice  of  subject.  The  mistake  most 
commonly  made  in  the  choice  of  topics  suggested  by  the 
work  of  the  courses  that  the  student  is  pursuing  is  that 
of  picking  almost  any  topic  that  happens  to  come  to  mind, 
without  considering  fully  whether  it  is  one  in  which  he 
has  any  particular  interest  or  of  which  he  has  sufficient 
understanding  and  information  to  enable  him  to  deal 
with  it  intelligently. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  7 

It  is  always  well,  at  least  in  beginning  speech  work, 
for  the  student  to  select  topics  in  which  he  already  has 
a  good  deal  of  information.  These  are  usually  closely  allied 
to  his  own  field.  The  medical  student  would  be  likely  to 
give  a  much  more  interesting  and  enlightening  speech 
upon  **  The  Evils  of  the  Patent-Medicine  Business  "  than 
would  the  student  of  agriculture  or  engineering. 

It  is  not  well,  however,  for  the  student  always  to  con- 
fine himself  to  themes  which  suggest  themselves  from 
the  routine  of  his  daily  life  and  work,  for  occasions  arise 
when  he  may  have  to  talk  upon  an  assigned  topic  of 
which  he  has  little  knowledge.  But  for  the  purpose  of  the 
beginner  in  the  first  stages  of  his  work  in  speech-making 
it  is  not  unwise  to  keep  close  to  the  things  in  which  he 
has  much  interest  and  of  which  he  is  sure  that  he  will 
speak  with  more  or  less  enthusiasm.  This  has  the  very 
great  advantage  of  helping  to  keep  his  mind  active  when 
he  stands  up  to  speak  and  of  making  him  forget  about 
his  hands  and  feet,  which  usually  assume  such  huge 
proportions  in  the  consciousness  of  the  beginner  during 
the  first  month  or  two  of  his  public-speaking  career. 

At  the  close  of  this  chapter  are  appended  topics  for 
speech-making  that  have  been  collected  through  a  period 
of  several  years  from  my  classes  in  public  speaking. 
These  will,  no  doubt,  offer  valuable  suggestions  to  students 
who  are  eager  to  know  the  kind  of  topics  that  are 
thoroughly  vital  for  purposes  of  extempore  speaking. 

The  development  of  the  speech.  After  the  choice  has 
been  made  of  a  subject  that  the  speaker  knbws  to  be 
entirely  appropriate  to  the  occasion  and  that  possesses 
the  elements  of  interest  and  vitality,  the  next  step  is  that 


8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  developing  it  in  a  manner  suitable  for  public  utterance. 
Of  any  topic  upon  which  one  is  reasonably  well  informed, 
one  has  a  great  mass  of  ideas  and  opinions,  which  are 
usually  in  a  more  or  less  chaotic  state.  They  constitute 
a  kind  of  ragbag  of  facts,  ideas,  opinions,  and  judgments 
that  need  to  be  brought  into  some  orderly  and  systematic 
form  before  they  can  be  presented  with  any  clearness  to 
an  audience. 

No  fault  of  public  speaking  is  more  objectionable  than 
that  of  rambling  along  and  never  getting  anywhere,  of 
merely  talking  to  no  point  or  purpose.  The  verdict  upon 
such  speaking  usually  is,  "  It  sounded  mighty  fine,  but 
what  was  the  man  driving  at .?  " 

It  is  surprising  how  many  people  there  are  who  pre- 
sume to  make  public  speeches  who  have  no  more  idea 
of  speech  development  than  the  darky  preacher  who 
said,  ''In  mah  sermons  I  alius  does  three  things : 
first,  I  chooses  mah  tex' ;  second,  I  departs  from  it ; 
and  third,  I  never  returns  to  it." 

In  these  days  we  insist  that  a  speaker,  in  order  to  be 
listened  to,  must  choose  his  subject  and  stick  to  it,  and 
continue  to  stick  to  it  till  he  is  done.  This  requires  the 
organization  of  his  ideas  into  some  systematic  form  that 
has  logical  order  and  development.  Some  types  of 
speeches  do  not  require  as  closely  knit  structure  as  do 
others.  For  instance,  the  after-dinner  ■  speech  is  usually 
of  much  freer  development  and  structure  than  most 
others.  But  every  speech  that  is  worth  anything  must 
have  systematic  structure  of  some  kind. 

A  speech  outline  essential.  This  makes  necessary  some 
kind  of  a  working  scheme  or  plan  which  usually  takes 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  9 

the  form  of  what  we  call  a  speech  outline.  The  great 
advantage  of  a  carefully  drawn  outline  is  that  it  brings 
into  systematic  order  for  purposes  of  presentation  to 
others  the  material  that  would  otherwise  be  more  or 
less  incoherent. 

The  object  of  a  speech.  But  before  any  systematic  and 
orderly  arrangement  in  the  form  of  an  outline  is  possible, 
one  must  determine  upon  the  purpose  or  object  which 
he  expects  to  accomplish  with  his  speech.  We  will  sup- 
pose that  he  is  going  to  discuss  the  National  adminis- 
tration. Before  he  can  accomplish  anything  very  definite 
in  working  out  a  plan  for  his  talk,  he  must  decide  upon 
what  he  proposes  to  do,  that  is,  upon  what  object  he 
expects  to  accomplish.  Is  the  purpose  of  his  talk  merely 
to  inform  his  hearers  of  the  facts  about  the  administra- 
tion ?  Is  it  to  convince  them  that  it  has  been  a  failure .? 
Or  is  it  to  persuade  them  that  they  ought  to  vote  for 
the  president  in  the  next  election  because  of  his  record 
in  the  present  administration  ?  Many  different  plans  for  a 
speech  upon  this  topic  might  be  drawn,  depending  upon 
the  aim  that  the  speaker  has  in  mind. 

It  is  well  to  get  clearly  in  mind  the  different  objects 
or  so-called  General  Ends  of  a  speech.  These  are  very 
clearly   set   forth   in    Phillips's    "Effective   Speaking." ^ 

They  are  : 

I.  To  make  clear. 

^  2.  To  impress. 

3.  To  induce  belief. 

4.  To  secure  action. 

5.  To  entertain. 

1  Phillips,  Effective  Speaking,  chap.  ii. 


10  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

I  quote  from  Phillips,  as  he  sets  forth  in  very  clear 
manner  the  nature  of  each  of  these  ends. 

Clearness 

Clearness  tells  what  ideas  are  and  there  stops.  It  has  no 
ulterior  motive,  no  bias.  Its  duty  is  translation,  reproduc- 
•  tion,  a  presentation  of  the  thing  without  personal  comment 
and  at  no  particular  angle.  It  is  the  specific  business  of 
all  who  seek  to  reproduce  thoughts  solely  for  the  thoughts 
themselves. 

The  lecture  of  a  college  professor  in  the  form  of  a 
purely  scientific  discussion  is  an  example  of  a  talk  that 
has  clearness  as  its  sole  end. 

Impressiveness 

Impressiveness  implies  vividness.  The  idea  is  not  simply 
seen,  but  felt.  It  has  emotional  association.  The  lecturer  upon 
Shakespeare  desires  that  the  art  of  Shakespeare  shall  not 
only  be  seen,  but  shall  be  presented  so  as  to  arouse  pleasur- 
able emotion.  Whenever  the  specific  aim  is  to  arouse  in  the 
listener  emotional  association  the  end  is  Impressiveness. 

Belief 

Belief  is  acceptance.  The  speaker  is  not  content  that  the 
listener  shall  see  or  feel.  The  subject  matter  must  come 
into  his  mind  as  reality  —  truth.  He  must  say  in  effect, 
''  That  is  so,"  "  You  are  right,"  "  I  believe."  It  demands, 
however,  no  action,  but  discusses  matters  of  opinion,  such 
as  which  of  two  philosophies  exercises  the  greater  influence, 
which  course  would  achieve  the  greater  good.  In  every 
case  where  the  dominant  motive  of  the  speaker  is  to  secure 
acceptance  of  his  idea  the  end  is  Belief. 

Action 

Action  is  doing.  It  is  never  passive.  The  end  of  the 
speaker  can   be   denoted  as  Action,  therefore,  when  his 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  II 

dominant  desire  is  to  have  the  listener  act  —  to  be,  to  go, 
to  give,  to  bring,  to  jbin,  to  do.  It  is  the  aim  immediate  or 
remote  of  the  major  portion  of  the  spoken  word.  It  is  the 
main  concern  of  the  preacher,  the  political  speaker,  the 
merchant,  the  salesman,  of  all  who  seek  to  sway. 

Entertainment 

Entertainment  as  an  end  is  concerned  with  amusement. 
It  arouses  pleasant  feelings,  interests,  mildly  delights  or 
produces  laughter.  It  becomes  the  end  of  the  speaker 
whenever  he  places  the  amusement  of  the  listener  above 
all  else.  It  is  the  distinctive  province  of  the  speaker  in 
the  social  circle  and  on  the  lyceum. 

With  these  different  ends  in  view  the  student  will  at 
once  see  that  he  cannot  proceed  to  draw  a  working  out- 
line for  his  speech  upon  the  administration  until  he  has 
first  determined  upon  what  he  aims  to  accomplish  in 
the  speech.  If  his  purpose  is  merely  to  set  forth  in  a 
clear  manner  the  salient  features  of  the  administration 
as  he  might  want  to  do  in  talking  to  a  class  interested 
in  current  events,  then  his  end  is  clearly  defined  and 
he  can  proceed  accordingly.  But  if  his  purpose  is  to 
win  votes  for  the  next  election,  his  mode  of  procedure 
will  be  very  different.  Here  it  would  be  necessary  for 
him  to  combine  several  ends.  He  would  probably  have 
to  start  with  the  end,  Clearness,  and  set  forth  the  actual 
facts  of  the  administration  as  he  sees  them.  Then  he 
would  have  to  employ  a  second  end.  Belief,  to  convince 
his  hearers  that  his  view  of  the  facts  was  correct.  And 
then  by  a  third  end.  Action,  he  might  persuade  them  to 
the  course  of  conduct  that  he  desired ;  namely,  to  cast 
their  votes  for  the  president. 


12  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

So  in  many  speeches  it  is  necessary  to  appeal  not  to 
a  single  end  but  to  several.  And  in  such  cases  the 
speaker  should  distinguish  carefully  between  the  one  end 
that  he  wishes  to  accomplish  and  the  ends  that  are  sub- 
sidiary or  mere  aids  toward  reaching  his  ultimate  goal. 

The  analysis  of  the  subject.  Having  determined  defi- 
nitely upon  the  ultimate  purpose  that  he  wishes  to  ac- 
complish in  his  speech,  the  speaker  will  then  proceed  to 
analyze  his  topic  in  order  to  find  out  how  this  purpose 
can  best  be  carried  out.  This  he  can  best  do  by  con- 
centrating his  thought  upon  the  topic  —  "  The  National 
Administration."  It  should  be  noted  that  this  is  merely 
a  topic.  It  does  not  suggest  any  definite  central  idea. 
As  he  thinks  it  over,  scores  of  different  phases  may 
present  themselves.  His  problem  is  to  determine  which 
particular  phases  "he  can  select  that  will  best  carry  out 
his  chief  purpose. 

Writing  important.  In  doing  this  he  will  do  well  to 
write  down  upon  paper  all  the  points  that  seem  to  him 
to  be  important  as  he  thinks  it  over.  Or,  better  still,  it 
may  help  him  very  much  in  getting  his  ideas  organized 
and  his  points  clearly  arranged  to  write  down  each  point 
on  a  separate  card  and  then  rearrange  the  cards  as  his 
plan  begins  to  take  shape.  The  mere  matter  of  writ- 
ing down  one's  ideas  of  any  subject  is  of  much  impor- 
tance. It  serves  to  clarify  and  objectify  one's  thinking. 
Often  a  speaker  does  not  realize  how  much  he  really 
knows  about  a  subject  until  he  begins  to  write  down 
on  paper  his  ideas  in  regard  to  it.  And  it  has  also  the 
advantage  that  additional  ideas  usually  come  with  the 
writing  and  tend  to  take  definite  form. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  13 

More  than  this,  it  serves  the  very  important  function 
of  securing  accuracy  of  statement.  An  idea  written  down 
in  the  form  of  a  good  EngHsh  sentence  is  Hkely  to  be 
much  more  accurate  than  one  that  is  floating  loosely 
in  the  mind.  The  writing  serves  to  give  clearness, 
definiteness,  and  accuracy,  which  are  altogether  desirable 
elements  in  the  planning  of  a  speech. 

The  stamp  of  originality  desirable.  It  is  usually  well 
for  the  speaker  to  take  a  kind  of  inventory  of  his  own 
information  upon  a  given  subject  before  drawing  upon 
other  sources.  This  has  the  special  advantage  of  giv- 
ing his  speech  from  the  first  an  original  stamp,  which 
it  will  not  have  if  he  relies  upon  information  found 
in  books  or  obtained  from  other  people.  His  ideas  may 
have  far  less  authority  and  value  than  the  opinions  of 
some  writer  upon  the  subject ;  nevertheless,  they  are 
his  own,  and  they  serve  to  give  him  a  certain  independ- 
ence and  originality  which  are  very  well  worth  while 
in  the  making  of  a  speech.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
satisfaction  in  the  feeling  that  the  main  conception  of 
one's  speech  is  one's  own  and  not  a  borrowed  product. 
To  be  sure,  there  are  some  topics  that  one  would  have 
to  seek  information  upon  from  books  or  other  sources 
before  they  could  be  dealt  with  intelligently,  but  for  the 
ordinary  topic  that  the  student  of  speaking  will  choose, 
it  is  always  best  to  examine  one's  own  ideas  upon  the 
subject,  thus  making  the  start  original,  and  then  read  for 
amplification  later  on. 

Choosing  the  theme.  With  the  object  of  the  speech 
kept  constantly  in  mind  as  one  thinks  over  the  different 
phases   of   his  topic   and  writes  them   down,   a  central 


14  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

idea  or  theme  will  begin  to  suggest  itself.  This  is  alto- 
gether important  and  must  be  chosen  with  discretion, 
since  around  the  central  theme  the  entire  speech  must 
be  built.  The  best  central  theme  is  that  phase  of  the 
subject  that  will  best  serve  to  accomplish  the  ultimate 
end  or  aim  that  the  speaker  has  in  mind.  A  theme  that 
is  not  wisely  chosen  usually  results  in  a  poor  speech. 
It  is  desirable  to  get  clearly  in  mind  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  mere  topic  of  a  speech  and  the  central  theme. 
''  The  Present  Administration  "  is  merely  a  speech  topic 
or  title.  It  is  not  a  theme,  for  it  states  nothing  definite. 
A  theme  is  a  specific  and  definite  statement  regarding 
the  topic,  as,  '*  The  Present  Administration  has  been 
efficient."  Here  we  have  a  working  theme  for  a  speech. 
It  is  something  that  expresses  a  definite  stand  taken 
by  the  speaker  and  tells  what  he  proposes  to  show.  It 
is  the  very  kernel  of  the  speech.  Anything  that  does 
not  bear  directly  upon  it  and  contribute  something  to 
its  development  must  be  excluded  as  irrelevant.  It  is 
invaluable  as  a  unifying  factor  in  the  building  of  the 
speech. 

If  one  is  careful  and  takes  the  pains  to  keep  con- 
stantly in  mind  the  central  idea  of  the  speech,  there  is 
no  danger  of  extraneous  matter  finding  its  way  into  the 
composition  of  the  outline.  This  is  altogether  important 
and  should  be  given  first  consideration  in  constructing 
the  plan. 

When  once  the  idea  that  is  to  form  the  nucleus  of 
the  speech  has  been  determined  upon  and  embodied  in 
the  form  of  a  definitely  stated  central  theme,  the  next 
step  is  to  build  up  about  it  the  plan  of  the  speech.    The 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  15 

mistake  commonly  made  by  the  beginner  and  by  those 
uninstructed  in  speech-making  is  that  of  trying  to  con- 
struct a  plan  almost  or  quite  independent  of  any  central 
idea  or  theme.  This  gives  results  something  like  the 
following : 

A  student,  speaking  upon  the  process  of  manufacturing 
paper,  chose  as  his  theme,  "  How  Paper  is  Made."  He 
presented  in  his  outline  the  following  main  divisions : 

I.    How  paper  is  made. 
II.    Methods  of  marketing  it. 
III.    Uses  to  which  it  is  put. 

Clearly  points  II  and  III,  dealing  with  how  paper  is 
marketed  and  with  the  uses  to  which  it  is  put,  have  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  theme  of  the  speech  —  "How 
Paper  is  Made."  There  could  have  been  in  the  mind  of 
the  student  who  prepared  this  outline  very  little  thought 
of  coherence  of  material  or  of  unity  of  purpose.  In  all 
probability  he  merely  jotted  down  the  points  that  came 
to  him  at  the  moment,  without  stopping  to  consider 
whether  or  not  there  was  any  real  relation  existing  be- 
tween them.  If  we  examine  the  three  topics  here  set 
down,  we  shall  see  that  they  offer  no  working  plan  for 
a  speech,  but  rather  furnish  themes  for  three  distinct 
speeches  upon  entirely  different  subjects. 

On  being  shown  that  every  outline  must  have  one  cen- 
tral theme  to  which  all  the  points  contained  in  it  must 
be  directly  related,  and  that  there  must  be  a  logical  devel- 
opment according  to  some  systematic  plan,  the  student 
presented  the  following  scheme,  which  shows  considerable 
improvement : 


1 6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING  ^ 

AN  EXPLANATION  OF  HOW  PAPER  IS  MADE 

It  consists  of  two  processes : 

I.    Treatment  of  raw  material. 

A.  Cleaning  and  dusting. 

B.  Boiling,  washing,  bleaching. 

C.  Reducing  to  pulp. 

II.    Converting  the  prepared  pulp  into  paper. 

A.  Beating  by  means  of  Jordan  refiner. 

B.  Sizing  and  coloring. 

C.  Making  the  web  or  sheet. 
Z>.  Surfacing. 

E.  Cutting. 

This  shows  that  the  student  had  progressed  sufficiently 
in  his  ideas  of  outline-making  to  appreciate  the  impor- 
tance of  at  least  an  orderly  arrangement  of  details.  To 
one  like  myself,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  processes 
involved  in  the  manufacture  of  paper,  this  scheme  was 
suggestive  but  not  adequate.  It  served  to  indicate  the 
various  steps,  but  it  did  not  make  them  clear.  Such 
points  as  **  surfacing  "  or  ''  reducing  to  pulp  "  are  wholly 
indefinite.  They  merely  suggest  what  is  done  ;  they  give 
not  a  hint  of  how  it  is  done,  which  is  the  real  object 
of  the  speech. 

An  outline,  in  order  to  be  sufficiently  comprehensive 
for  practical  purposes,  should  employ  only  complete  state- 
ments. However,  an  indefinite  statement  of  points  such 
as  this  is  sufficient  for  the  early  stages  of  the  making  of 
the  plan,  where  only  a  tentative  outline  is  necessary. 

A  tentative  outline  desirable.  It  is  generally  not  a 
wise  thing  to  attempt  to  put  an  outline  into  final  form 
at  the  very  first.    A  tentative   outline  is  usually  better 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  1 7 

to  start  with.  The  special  advantage  of  a  tentative  out- 
line is  that  it  leaves  the  way  open  for  reshaping  and  read- 
justing the  plan  as  one's  ideas  of  the  subject  develop.  It 
has  also  the  advantage  of  bringing  more  or  less  disorgan- 
ized ideas  into  orderly  form  so  that  the  further  develop- 
ment of  the  speech  will  become  coherent  and  logical. 
Without  a  simple  scheme  of  this  kind  as  a  foundation 
upon  which  to  build,  the  plan  of  the  speech  is  not  likely 
to  be  much  more  than  a  product  of  chance. 

The  tentative  outline,  therefore,  is  very  desirable  to 
start  with.  It  should  be  concise  and  should  represent 
one's  own  ideas  of  the  subject  arranged  in  orderly 
manner. 

With  this  as  a  starting  point  the  speaker  should  set 
about  to  bring  his  plan  into  final  form.  The  natural  way 
to  do  this  is  to  seek  further  information  and  to  look 
at  the  subject  from  different  view  points.  This  may 
be  done  by  reading  what  others  have  written  upon  the 
subject  and  by  conversing  with  other  people  about  it. 

The  value  of  wide  reading.  In  reading  about  the  sub- 
ject it  is  well  to  read  widely,  if  there  is  time,  so  that  all 
phases  of  it  may  be  observed  and  taken  into  considera- 
tion. The  important  thing  is  to  view  the  subject  from 
just  as  many  different  angles  as  possible,  so  that  one's 
final  judgment  upon  it  is  the  result  of  a  broad-minded 
view  and  actual  information,  not  of  mere  prejudice  or 
superficial  investigation. 

In  reading  for  amplification  it  is  necessary  always  to 
exercise  careful  discrimination.  One  needs  to  distinguish 
between  the  writings  of  men  who  speak  with  authority 
upon  the  subject  and  those  whose  opinions  are  of  little 


1 8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

or  no  value.  There  is  also  the  danger  of  doing  a  limited 
amount  of  reading  and  forming  ''  snap  judgments."  Wide 
reading  and  careful  discrimination  as  to  the  real  value  of 
what  one  reads  are  altogether  important  in  giving  the 
right  perspective  and  the  breadth  that  is  desirable  for 
a  fair-minded  discussion  of  any  subject. 

The  value  of  friendly  discussion.  Much  may  be  gained, 
also,  by  matching  ideas  with  other  people.  Students  some- 
times find  that  among  the  most  valuable  information  that 
they  get  for  their  speeches  is  that  obtained  by  talking 
the  subject  over  with  their  friends.  It  usually  proves 
very  helpful  to  converse  with  other  people,  to  get  their 
point  of  view,  to  find  out  what  they  are  thinking  and 
believing.  This  serves  to  throw  added  light  upon  the 
subject,  to  temper  opinions,  and  to  aid  in  forming 
saner  and  better  balanced  judgments. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  speaker  continue  with  this 
process  of  thinking,  reading,  observing,  conversing,  until 
he  feels  himself  well  grounded  m.  his  subject.  He  should 
have  the  feeling  of  possessing  a  reserve  fund  of  knowl- 
edge and  information  to  draw  upon.  This  he  will  find  to 
be  of  very  great  service  to  him,  not  alone  in  the  work 
of  completing  his  plan  for  the  speech,  but  in  his  delivery 
of  it  as  well.  It  is  the  man  who  is  *'  full  of  his  subject " 
who  usually  makes  the  most  effective  speech,  and  it 
should  never  be  counted  a  loss  if  one  gains  a  vast  deal 
of  information  in  the  work  of  preparation  that  never  finds 
a  place  in  the  final  plan  of  the  speech.  That  which  is 
rejected  sometimes  serves  a  negative  function  that  is 
quite  as  important  in  giving  quality  and  tone  to  the 
speech  as  the  material  that  is  accepted  as  essential. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  19 

The  final  speech  plan.  After  the  preliminary  work 
that  we  have  suggested  has  been  done,  there  remains 
only  the  final  step  of  bringing  the  material  into  proper 
outline  form.  This  is  usually  not  a  difficult  thing  to  do, 
since  the  process  of  preparation  up  to  this  point  has 
been  chiefly  one  of  determining  upon  the  materials  best 
suited  for  carrying  out  the  main  object  of  the  speech 
and  of  rejecting  whatever  has  not  seemed  to  contribute 
toward  that  end.  In  fact,  the  final  plan  for  the  speech  is 
likely  to  have  taken  pretty  definite  form  in  the  speaker's 
mind  before  the  preliminary  steps  are  completed.  But 
even  with  definitely  formulated  ideas  as  to  how  the  sub- 
ject is  to  be  treated,  there  remains  always  the  considera- 
tion of  the  best  arrangement  of  details  for  carrying  out 
the  speaker's  purpose. 

In  determining  this  there  are  a  few  simple  principles 
that  should  be  kept  in  mind. 

First,  the  central  theme  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  at 
any  time.  Everything  that  goes  into  the  speech  should 
have  some  bearing  upon  the  central  thought  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  theme.  If  it  does  not,  it  must  be  rejected 
as  irrelevant.  Nothing  is  so  important  for  securing  a 
good  speech  plan  as  a  strict  observance  of  this  principle. 
The  loose  thinker  rarely  ever  observes  it;  the  person 
accustomed  to  habits  of  accurate  thinking  rarely  ever 
violates  it.  The  fault  of  the  former  is  the  fault  of  the 
darky  brother  whom  we  have  quoted ;  the  virtue  of  the 
latter  is  that  of  one  who  chooses  his  text  and  never  departs 
from  it.    It  is  the  sine  qna  non  of  the  public  speaker. 

Second,  the  final  plan  should  possess  the  very  essential 
quality   of   clearness,    A  speech  plan  may  be  carefully 


20  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

constructed  as  to  our  first  point  —  central  idea  —  and 
yet  be  much  confused  as  to  arrangement  of  details.  The 
speaker  needs  to  be  able  to  recognize  the  difference 
between  those  phases  of  the  subject  that  constitute  the 
real  issues  of  the  question  and  such  points  as  are  merely 
contributory  to  those  issues.  He  should  understand  the 
principles  of  coordination  and  subordination,  so  that 
the  main  features  may  be  given  prominent  place  and 
the  merely  contributory  elements  inferior  place.  Fre- 
quently we  find  points  of  entirely  unequal  rank  given 
coordinate  position  in  the  outline,  or  subordinate  fea- 
tures given  primary  rank  while  the  real  issues  are  lost 
sight  of.  All  this  will  be  avoided  when  the  speaker 
understands  how  to  arrange  his  points  so  as  to  give  to 
each  its  proper  rank,  and  to  all,  the  clarity  necessary  to 
a  good  speech  plan. 

Moreover,  mere  fragmentary  statements  of  points  should 
be  avoided.  In  the  student's  outline  that  we  quoted,  of 
the  process  of  manufacturing  paper,  there  is  a  decided 
lack  of  clearness.  The  statements  ''surfacing,"  "reduc- 
ing to  pulp,"  "making  the  web  or  sheet,"  are  merely 
suggestive.  They  express  nothing  definite.  This  is  de- 
cidedly objectionable,  since  it  renders  the  entire  speech 
plan  more  or  less  intangible.  No  one  by  looking  over 
this  outline  would  be  able  to  gain  any  clear  idea  of  how 
paper  is  really  manufactured.  It  is  desirable  that  every 
point  in  an  outline  be  stated  in  the  form  of  a  complete 
sentence.  This  not  only  aids  in  insuring  clearness  but 
is  of  peculiar  advantage  to  the  speaker.  Formulating 
each  point  in  the  outline  into  a  definitely  stated  sentence 
helps  to  objectify  his  thinking  and  to  make  his  actual 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  21 

speaking  much  more  accurate  than  it  would  be  if  the 
points  of  his  outhne  were*  all  stated  in  mere  fragmentary 
and  indefinite  form. 

Third,  the  speech  plan  should  be  comprehensive ;  that 
is,  it  should  cover  all  the  ground  suggested  by  the  central 
theme.  How  often  do  we  see  the  main  points  of  an 
outline  set  down  in  mere  chance  fashion,  with  apparently 
no  thought  of  treating  the  subject  comprehensively !  If 
a  speaker  sets  out  to  show  that  the  present  administra- 
tion has  or  has  not  been  efficient,  surely  his  audience 
will  expect  him  to  do  something  more  than  merely  select 
at  random  two  or  three  chance  topics  such  as : 

I.    The  president's  policies. 
II.    His  personal  qualities. 
III.   His  successes. 

Such  topics  are  not  sufficiently  coordinated  or  extensive 
in  their  scope  to  establish  the  success  or  failure  of  the 
present  administration.  In  order  to  treat  this  theme  in 
anything  like  an  adequate  manner  it  would  be  necessary 
to  deal  with  it  along  lines  sufficiently  broad  to  cover  the 
important  issues  necessary  to  show  either  the  success  or 
the  failure  of  the  administration. 

If  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  speaker  to  prove  that  the 
administration  has  been  successful,  he  may  cover  the 
ground  satisfactorily  by  employing  a  thoroughly  compre- 
hensive plan  such  as  the  following : 

I.    In   its   domestic  policy  the   administration   has   been 

successful. 
II.    In    its    foreign    policy   the   administration    has    been 
successful. 


22  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  desires  to  show  that  the 
administration  has  been  a  dismal  failure,  he  may  use  this 
same  basis  of  division  and  bring  evidence  to  prove  that 
both  the  domestic  and  foreign  policies  of  the  administration 
have  been  a  series  of  hopeless  blunders.  Or  if  he  believes 
that  there  have  been  some  good  features  that  everyone 
ought  to  be  willing  to  admit,  he  m.ay  see  fit  to  show  up  : 

I.    The  good  features  of  the  administration. 
II.    The  bad  features  of  the  administration. 

And  then,  by  balancing  the  two,  prove  that  the  bad 
features  are  so  many  and  of  such  great  importance  as  to 
overshadow  entirely  the  good  that  has  been  accomplished. 

Comprehensiveness,  then,  is  fundamental  in  the  plan- 
ning of  the  speech.  The  jotting  down  of  whatever  chance 
division  of  the  subject  may  come  to  mind  is  a  vicious 
habit,  indicative  of  either  ignorance  or  indolence.  Every 
well-constructed  speech  plan  must  have  a  perspective 
that  comprehends  all  that  is  implied  in  the  central  theme. 

Fourth,  the  plan  of  the  speech  should  be  coftcise. 
There  are  occasions,  to  be  sure,  when  a  speech  plan  of 
considerable  elaborateness  may  be  necessary,  but  for  the 
purposes  of  the  average  student  the  element  of  concise- 
ness is  highly  desirable.  The  primary  advantage  of  con- 
ciseness is  that  it  makes  the  speech  plan  simpler,  both  for 
the  speaker  and  for  his  audience.  An  outline  wrought 
out  in  much  elaborate  detail  is  hard  both  for  the  speaker 
to  keep  in  mind  and  for  his  hearers  to  follow.  A  large 
number  of  divisions  and  subdivisions  often  results  in  the 
speaker's  becoming  confused  among  a  mass  of  details 
and  losing  the  thread  of  his  talk  altogether. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  23 

It  is  not  an  unwise  thing  for  the  extempore  speaker 
to  confine  the  discussion  of  his  subject  to  three  or  four 
main  headings,  or  better  still  to  one  or  two,  if  he  feels 
that  hfe  can  do  justice  to  his  theme  within  those  limits. 

I  have  found  the  use  of  small  cards  (not  over  4x6  size) 
particularly  valuable  for  securing  conciseness  in  outline 
work.  By  placing  the  entire  plan  for  a  speech  upon  a 
single  card  of  this  kind,  one  soon  gains  a  habit  of  con- 
ciseness and  accuracy  of  statement  that  is  highly  desirable 
in  the  planning  of  a  speech. 

Fifth,  the  function  of  the  main  divisions  of  the  outline  ^ 
—  introduction^  discussiony  and  conclusion  —  should  be 
clearly  understood. 

I.  The  function  of  the  introduction  is  merely  to  help 
the  speaker  in  getting  started  —  to  open  up  his  subject. 
There  are  many  different  ways  in  which  this  may  be  done. 
This  usually  constitutes  some  form  of  adaptation.  It  may 
be  adaptation  by  reference  to  something  that  has  been  said 
by  a  preceding  speaker,  by  reference  to  the  significance 
of  the  particular  occasion,  or  by  many  other  means. 

The  introduction  sometimes  serves  to  explain  certain 
things  that  need  to  be  made  clear  before  taking  up  the 
discussion  proper.  Again,  it  may  be  employed  to  remove 
prejudice  and  gain  a  fair  and  favorable  hearing.  What- 
ever may  be  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  employed,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  its  primary  function  is  to  give 
the  speaker  a  start. 

^  There  is  no  attempt  to  set  forth  here,  except  in  a  very  brief  and 
general  way,  the  features  of  the  main  divisions  of  the  speech.  For 
more  detailed  information  regarding  the  function  of  introduction,  dis- 
cussion, and  conclusion,  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  Phillips's  "  Effective 
Speaking  "  and  Shurter's  "  Rhetoric  of  Oratory." 


24  ELEMENTARY  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

2.  The  discussion  constitutes  the  real  development  of 
the  speech.  It  is  here  that  the  speaker  must  exercise 
good  judgment  in  determining  upon  the  issues  involved. 
Not  infrequently  do  we  find  parts  of  the  material  that  can 
properly  stand  only  in  the  main  body  of  the  speech  scattered 
throughout  the  introduction  and  conclusion.  The  discus- 
sion is  the  development  proper.  It  should  contain  all  of 
the  actual  development  of  the  speech  and  nothing  more. 

3.  The  conclusion  consists  merely,  of  a  rounding-out 
process.  It  is  a  very  common  thing  to  find  in  the  speech 
plans  of  beginners  about  half  of  the  real  development  of 
the  speech  standing  under  the  head  of  the  conclusion. 
The  true  function  of  the  conclusion  is  not  to  develop 
anything,  but  merely  to  conclude  what  has  already  been 
developed.  Sometimes  it  makes  a  summary  of  the  points, 
as  is  the  common  form  of  conclusion  in  arguments  ;  again, 
it  may  be  the  substance  of  the  whole  speech  embodied  in 
an  epigrammatic  statement  that  puts  the  whole  problem  in 
a  nutshell ;  or  it  may  be  an  impressive  application  of  the 
theme  by  means  of  an  analogy  in  the  form  of  a  telling 
anecdote  or  vivid  word  picture.  Whatever  the  form  em- 
ployed, it  is  well  always  to  think  of  the  conclusion  as 
merely  a  rounding  out  of  what  has  already  been  developed 
in  the  speech  plan. 

By  a  careful  observation  of  the  five  essentials  of  outline- 
making  given  above,  the  speaker  should  be  able  to  prepare 
a  well-ordered  plan  for  a  speech  upon  any  topic. 

I  have  found  it  advisable  in  my  own  classes  to  require 
a  definite  statement  of  the  object  of  the  speech  and  of  the 
central  theme  at  the  beginning  of  every  speech  outline. 
This  insures  a  definiteness  of  aim  and  a  coherence  in 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  25 

the  development  that  one  is  not  Hkely  to  find  if  these  two 
things  are  not  kept  prominent  during  the  entire  process 
of  constructing  the  speech  plan. 

It  is  well  also,  in  the  first  stages  of  outline-making,  for 
the  student  to  place  a  concise  statement  after  each  of 
the  main  divisions  —  introduction,  discussion,  and  conclu- 
sion—  of  what  he  proposes  to  accomplish  under  each  of 
these  heads.  This  helps  in  becoming  practiced  in  keep- 
ing within  the  exact  limits,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of 
overstepping  these  important  divisions. 

Practical  exercises  follow  that  will  be  found  of  much 
value  for  gaining  skill  in  outline-making. 

When  a  reasonable  degree  of  mastery  has  been  gained 
in  the  organization  of  speech  material,  the  problems  of 
how  to  deliver  that  material  effectively  should  be  taken 
up  and  put  into  immediate  practice.  This  is  the  purpose 
of  the  remaining  chapters  of  this  book.  Beginning  with 
Chapter  II,  each  important  step  of  speech  delivery  has 
been  taken  up  and  treated  fully.  And  only  a  single  sug- 
gestion seems  necessary  to  bridge  the  gap  between  the 
process  of  learning  how  the  speech  is  constructed  and 
how  it  should  be  delivered  ;  that  is,  how  to  get  in  mind 
for  purposes  of  delivery  the  material  that  has  been  organ- 
ized into  proper  speech  form.  This  is  simple  enough,  as 
it  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  thinking  intently  upon  the  speech 
plan  until  it  has  been  thoroughly  assimilated.  By  the  time 
one  has  gone  through  all  the  preliminary  steps  of  planning 
and  organizing  the  material  for  a  speech,  the  points  of  the 
final  plan  are  likely  to  be  so  well  in  mind  that  one  does 
not  have  to  commit  them.  Or  if  they  are.  not  entirely  fixed, 
five  minutes  of  careful  thought  will  accomplish  this. 


26  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Further  preparation  will  consist  chiefly  of  three  things  : 

First,  silently  thinking  the  speech  through.  Many  people 
find  it  of  very  great  value  to  sit  back  in  an  easy-chair,  close 
their  eyes,  and  go  through  the  entire  speech  mentally.  Very 
valuable  help  may  be  gained  from  this  silent  practice  by 
(i)  memorizing  the  outline,  that  is,  skipping  rapidly  from 
point  to  point  in  the  outline  until  it  can  be  followed  through 
to  the  end  with  facility  ;  (2)  mentally  filling  out  the  outline 
as  though  actually  speaking. 

Second,  oral  practice  —  by  speaking  before  someone 
who  will  give  helpful  criticism,  and  by  speaking  to  an' 
imaginary  audience.  In  both  mental  and  oral  practice  of 
this  kind  two  things  should  be  carefully  guarded  against. 
The  speaker  should  begin  and  go  straight  through  his 
speech  to  the  end,  no  matter  how  poorly  it  is  done.  Then 
do  the  same  thing  again,  trying  to  improve  the  faults  of 
the  first  practice.  It  is  decidedly  objectionable  to  take 
one  or  two  points  and  go  back  over  them  again  and 
again,  without  really  making  any  definite  progress  in 
the  practice  of  the  speech.  Care  should  be  taken,  also, 
not  to  express  one's  self  in  the  same  language  every 
time.  This  results  in  a  certain  stereotyped  form  that 
makes  the  speech  practically  a  declamation  and  renders 
it  decidedly  stale. 

Third,  writing  out  parts  of  the  speech.  Great  care  must 
be  taken  not  to  write  out  large  portions  of  the  speech 
and  commit  them.  The  chief  advantage  of  writing  is  the 
reflex  action  that  it  seems  to  have  in  systematizing  thought 
and  improving  diction.  The  very  best  thing  to  do  with 
the  writing  that  one  does  in  the  preparation  of  a  speech 
is  to  throw  it  in  the  waste  basket. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  27 

With  a  definite  knowledge  of  how  to  organize  the 
material  for  a  speech  and  how  to  get  that  material  in 
hand  for  public  utterance,  the  problem  remains  of  learning 
the  art  of  how  to  deliver  it  well.  This  is  without  question 
the  most  difficult  undertaking  of  the  public  speaker,  and 
will  be  the  object  of  our  further  study  in  this  text. 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  IN  OUTLINE-MAKING 

Exercise  I.  Make  a  study  of  the  speech  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  1  delivered  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia, 
on  February  22,  1861.  Draw  a  careful  outline  of  this 
speech,  noting  the  purpose  of  the  speaker  in  the  intro- 
duction, in  the  development  of  the  theme,  and  in  the 
conclusion.  Do  you  think  it  a  well-constructed  speech  ? 
Are  the  object  and  theme  clear,  and  are  they  carried  out 
consistently  ?  What  is  your  estimate  of  the  speech  as  a 
whole  }    The  speech  follows  : 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

Abraham  Lincoln 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself  standing 
in  this  place,  where  are  collected  the  wisdom,  the  patriotism, 
the  devotion  to  principle  from  which  sprang  the  institutions 
under  which  we  live.  You  have  kindly  suggested  to  me 
that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to  our  dis- 
tracted country.  I  can  say  in  return,  sirs,  that  all  the  polit- 
ical sentiments  I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments  which 
originated  in  and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall. 
I  have  never  had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not  spring 

^  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln :  a  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  299. 


28  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

from  the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. I  have  often  pondered  over  the  dangers  which 
were  incurred  by  the  men  who  assembled  here  and  framed 
and  adopted  that  Declaration.  I  have  pondered  over  the  toils 
that  were  endured  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army 
who  achieved  that  independence.  I  have  often  inquired  of 
myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this 
Confederacy  so  long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter 
of  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother-land,  but  that 
sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave 
liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  countr}',  but  hope  to 
all  the  world,  for  all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave 
promise  that  in  due  time  the  weight  would  be  lifted  from 
the  shoulders  of  all  men  and  that  all  should  have  an  equal 
chance.  This  is  the  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be 
saved  on  that  basis  ?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one 
of  the  happiest  men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it. 
If  it  cannot  be  saved  on  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly 
awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving 
up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I  would  rather  be 
assassinated  on  the  spot  than  surrender  it.  Now,  in  my  view 
of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs  there  is  no  need  of  blood- 
shed and  war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in 
favor  of  such  a  course  ;  and  I  may  say  in  advance  that  there 
will  be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  govern- 
ment. The  government  will  not  use  force  unless  force  is 
used  against  it. 

My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unprepared  speech.  I  did 
not  expect  to  be  called  upon  to  say  a  word  when  I  came 
here.  I  supposed  it  was  merely  to  do  something  toward 
raising  a  flag — I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something 
indiscreet.  But  I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am  willing 
to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God, 
die  by. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  29 

Try  to  discover  the  excellences  or  defects  of  the  follow- 
ing. Compare  with  them  the  outline  that  you  have  made, 
and  decide  upon  the  best  possible  outline  for  the  speech. 

SPECIMEN  OUTLINE  I 

The  Declaration  of  Independence 

Object.    To  enforce  the  idea  of  the  equality  of  all  men. 
Theme.    The  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Introduction,    To  pay  a  tribute  to  Independence  Hall. 

I.  His  political  views  were  drawn  from  the  Declaration. 
Discussion.    To  exalt  the  framers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

I.  The  principles  of  the  Declaration  kept  the  Con- 
federacy together. 
II.  The  Declaration  gives  equality  to  all  mankind. 
Conclusion.    To  show  that  his  speech  was  unprepared. 
I.  Helpfulness  rather  than  slaughter. 

SPECIMEN  OUTLINE  II 
The  Declaration  of  Independence 

Object.  To  impress  upon  his  hearers  that  the  country 
should  be  saved  without  the  sacrifice  of  the  central 
principle  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Theme.  Can  the  country  be  saved  without  bloodshed,  on  the 
basis  that  in  due  time  all  men  shall  have  an  equal  chance  ? 

Introduction.  Adaptation  to  surroundings  and  statement  of 
the  principle  of  the  Declaration. 

I.  All  his  political  sentiments  have  come  from  asso- 
ciations with  this  spot. 
II.  The  central  idea  of  the  Declaration  is  that  in  due 
time  all  men  shall  have  an  equal  chance. 


30  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Discussion.    Application  of  this  principle  to  the  present  crisis. 
I.  This  country  should  be  saved  without  the  sacrifice 
of  the  main  principle  of  the  Declaration. 
A.  It  should  be  saved  without  bloodshed  if  possible. 
^.  It  must  be  saved  by  force  if  necessary. 

Conclusion.    To  guard  against  being  misunderstood  and  to 
impress  his  loyalty  to  that  principle. 

I.  As  his  speech  was  unprepared,  he  may  have  spoken 
indiscreetly. 
J  I.  Whatever  the  cost,  he  is  willing  to  live  or  die  by 
the  principle. 

Exercise  II.  The  following  outlines  are  the  work  of 
students.  Some  of  them  were  made  at  the  beginning  of 
the  course,  when  the  student  had  no  conception  of  what 
an  outline  ought  to  be  ;  others  were  handed  in  later  in  the 
semester,  when  a  fair  idea  had  been  gained  of  the  essentials 
of  a  good  speech  plan. 

Make  a  careful  study  of  these  outlines  and  try  to  profit 
by  the  merits  or  faults  of  each. 

OUTLINE  I. 
The  Wilson  Administration 

I.  Wilson's  administration. 

A.  Radical  Democratic  Party. 

B.  Democratic  platform. 

II.  The  Wilson  administration  has  been  successful. 

A.  Have  carried  out  their  platform  statements  and  policies. 

1.  Tariff. 

2.  Internal  improvements. 

3.  Federal  Reserve  Bank  Act. 

4.  Foreign  policy. 

III.  The  Wilson  administration  has  been  efficient  in  general 
and  is  likely  to  remain  in  power  for  some  time. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  31 

OUTLINE  II 

The  Wilson  Administration 

Object.    To  prove  by  facts. 

Theme.    Efficiency  of  the  administration. 

Introduction.  Show  that  the  administration  has  been  efficient. 
Discussion. 

I.  His  policies. 

A.  Mexican. 

B.  European. 

C.  Tariff. 

II.  His  successes. 

A.  In  keeping  peace. 

B.  In  fostering  the  Panama  Canal  project  and  in 

Canal  Tolls  Act. 
Conclusion. 

I.  Wilson  should  be  given  second  term  and  merits 
your  support. 

OUTLINE  III 
The  Wilson  Administration 

Theme.  The  Wilson  administration  has  not  been  efficient. 

Introduction.    The  time  has  been  a  troublous  one,  in  which 
mistakes  might  be  pardoned.     But  the  mistakes  of  this 
administration  have  been  unpardonable. 
Discussion. 

I.  The  administration  has  not  been  efficient  in  foreign 
affairs. 
A.  In  Mexico. 

1.  The  Huerta  affair  was  not  well  managed 

—  a  pedagogic  attempt  to  teach  morality 
to  other  nations. 

2.  The  present  situation  is  dangerous  to  life  and 

property.   No  protection  to  Americans. 


32  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

B.  European  situation. 

1.  England  allowed  to  destroy  our  commerce. 

2.  Germany  openly  defiant. 

3.  "  Too  proud  to  fight "  policy  a  bad  one. 
XL  Has  not  been  efficient  in  home  affairs. 

A.  The  tariff  has  not  been  well  managed. 
I .  Underwood  Bill  pernicious. 

B.  General    hard   times    prevail    throughout    the 

country. 
I .   Not  so  under  Taf  t  administration. 

Conclusion.    The  Wilson  administration  should  not  be  given 
another  term. 


OUTLINE  IV 

The  Wilson  Administration 

Object.    To  gain  votes  for  Wilson  at  the  fall  election. 
Theme.    The  Wilson  administration  has  been  a  success. 

Introduction.    To  adapt  the  theme  to  the  occasion. 

I.   It  is  well  to  have  the  facts  now,  in  order  to  form, 
our  judgment  before  the  campaign. 

Discussion.    To  give   facts  that  show  the   success  of  the 
administration. 

I.  Mr.  Wilson's  foreign  policy  has  been  courageous 
and  successful. 

A.  Intervention  in   Mexico   was  carried  only  as 

far  as  needed. 

B.  The  rights  of  Americans  have  been  acknowl- 

edged by  the  belligerents. 
I.  Imminent  war  has  been  averted. 
II.  Mr.  Wilson's  domestic  policy  has  been  wise. 

A.  He  has  put  through  good  banking  and  currency 
laws. 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  33 

B.  He  has  secured  a  wise  revision  of  the  tariff. 

C.  He  has  recognized  the  need  of  military  pre- 

paredness. 

Conclusion,    To  show  that  the  success  of  the  administration 
merits  support. 

I.  Mr.  Wilson  has  governed  well  under  trying  condi- 
tions. 
II.  Mr.  Wilson,  the  experienced  pilot,  should  continue 
to  hold  the  helm. 

SUGGESTIVE  TOPICS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Topics  for  Exposition 

Preparation  of  commercial  casein.  Process  of  launder- 
ing clothes.  Manufacture  of  malted  milk.  Operation  of  a 
brewery.  Lumbering  in  pine  forests.  Primitive  houses  of 
North  America.  Pyramids  of  Egypt.  An  efficient  kitchen. 
Fundamentals  of  bread-making.  How  jelly  is  made.  Cook- 
ing with  electricity.  Vacuum-cleaning.  Pea-canning  indus- 
try. Picture-framing.  Planning  a  factory.  Hydroelectric 
power  plant.  Manufacture  of  cement.  Government  arsenals. 
Types  of  gas  engines.  Centrifugal-pump  testing.  Babcock 
test.  The  linotype.  How  sheep  are  sheared  in  Montana. 
The  production  of  sugar  beets.  How  alfalfa  is  raised.  Bee- 
keeping. Tobacco  crop.  The  continuation  school.  Book- 
keeping. Comprehensive  filing  systems.  Science  as  applied 
to  business  management.  The  treatment  of  goiter.  Pearl- 
fishing.  Clam-fishing  in  the  Mississippi  River.  Electric  stage 
effects. 

2.  Campus  Topics 

Required  courses.  Foreign-language  requirements.  Elec- 
tives.  Credit  for  work  in  literary  societies.  Credit  for  inter- 
collegiate forensics.  Cultural  and  vocational  studies.  Courses 
in  the  appreciation  of  art.    Relation  of  student  and  faculty. 


34  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

College  athletics.  College  dramatics.  Student  self-govern- 
ment. Hazing.  The  advisory  system.  The  honor  system. 
Student  rushes.  Management  of  student  social  functions. 
College  dancing.  Student  employees.  Athletic  equipment. 
Compulsory  military  education.  Swimming  as  a  college 
activity.  Physical  education.  Campus  architecture.  Dormi- 
tories for  men.  Dormitories  for  women.  Campus-keeping. 
Literary  societies.  Fraternities.  College  spirit.  Obligation  of 
the  student  to  the  home  folks.    The  student  in  practical  life. 

3.  Social  Questions 

The  convict's  chance.  The  price  of  child  labor.  Lynch 
law.  Horrors  of  automobile  racing.  Products  of  the  slums. 
Liquor  traffic  and  its  human  toll.  Misfortune  of  the  back- 
ward child.  National  divorce  law.  Social  derelicts.  Eugenic 
marriage  laws.  Vocational  guidance.  Compulsory  supervised 
play.  National  prohibition.  Problem  of  the  rural  school. 
The  school  as  a  social  center.  The  church  as  a  social  insti- 
tution. The  play  school.  Social  settlements.  The  white 
plague.  American  servant-girl  problem.  Mountain  whites. 
Influence  of  women's  clubs.  Woman's  part  in  a  dry  cam- 
paign. Social  influence  of  the  ''  movies."  The  gospel  of 
fresh  air.  The  habitually  poor.  The  social  influence  of 
community  music.  Wages  and  morals.  Municipal  dancing. 
Place  of  domestic  science  in  the  higher  education  of 
women.    Uniform  dress  for  women  in  colleges. 

4.  Economic  Problems 

Henry  Ford's  profit-sharing  plan.  The  eight-hour  day. 
Value  of  advertising.  Who  pays  for  the  advertising  ?  Mail- 
order houses  versus  the  country  store.  State  insurance. 
The  pay-up-week  plan.  Aims  of  organized  labor.  Coopera- 
tion in  marketing  of  rural  products.  The  middleman. 
Open  versus  closed  shop.  Relation  of  pure-food  standards 
to  the  high  cost  of  living.  State  roads.  Recent  currency 
legislation.     Protective  tariff  versus  free  trade.    Mothers' 


PLANNING  THE  SPEECH  35 

pensions.  Income  tax.  Personal-property  tax.  Commis- 
sion plan  of  city  government.  Industrial  education.  Manual 
arts  in  education.  High  license.  Municipal  ownership  of  pub- 
lic utilities.    Inheritance  tax.    Single  tax.    Minimum  wage. 

5.  Current  Topics 

"  Pussy footism."  Preparedness.  The  American  flag  in 
Mexico.  Independence  for  the  Philippines.  Probable  effects 
of  the  European  War.  Our  relations  with  South  America. 
What  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  ?  Panama  Canal  tolls.  Japa- 
nese in  California.  European-immigrant  problem  in  the 
United  States.  Equal  suffrage  in  the  United  States.  The 
militant  suffragette.  Legal  status  of  women  property 
owners  in  the  United  States.  Negro  problem  as  interpreted 
by  Booker  Washington.  Prohibition  of  negro  immigration 
into  the  United  States.  Desirability  of  literacy  test  for 
immigrants.  Irish  home  rule.  Justice  to  the  Jew.  Justice 
to  the  American  Indian.  Prospects  in  the  next  presidential 
campaign.  The  feminist  movement  as  a  benefit  or  detri- 
ment to  American  women.  Traffic  in  patent  medicines. 
Hoof-and-mouth  disease.  Infantile  paralysis.  Licensing  of 
engineers. 

6.  Literary  Topics 

The  philosophy  of  Shakespeare.  Pope's  position  and 
influence.  Shelley's  idea  of  social  service.  A  comparison  of 
the  poetry  of  Burns  and  Gray.  Ethical  aspects  of  the  works 
of  George  Meredith.  Browning's  place  in  English  poetry. 
Influence  of  Wordsworth  on  English  poetic  style.  Poe's 
genius.  Music  in  Shakespeare.  The  Rubaiyat  of  Omar. 
Lincoln's  literary  style.  Philosophy  of  Emerson.  The  ver- 
satile Kipling.  James's  pragmatism.  Ethical  philosophy  of 
Mark  Twain.  Social  philosophy  of  Confucius.  A  compari- 
son of  the  word  painting  of  Grady  and  Ingersoll.  O.  Henry 
as  a  short-story  writer.  Puritanism  as  depicted  in  Hawthorne. 
Shakespeare's  women.    Sheridan  as  a  dramatist. 


36  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

7.  Biographical  Topics 

Lincoln.  Boyhood  of  Lincoln.  Lincoln's  education.  Lin- 
coln's personality.  Lincoln  the  man.  Lincoln  as  a  politician. 
Lincoln  the  statesman.  Lincoln  the  orator  and  debater. 
Lincoln  the  story-teller  and  humorist.  Lincoln  and  emanci- 
pation. Lincoln  and  the  Dred  Scott  Decision.  Lincoln's 
policy  of  mercy.  Foreign  policy  of  Lincoln  during  the  Civil 
War.  Effect  of  Lincoln's  death  upon  the  South.  What 
would  Lincoln  do  to-day? 

Great  Orators.  Demosthenes.  Cicero.  Chatham.  Burke. 
Fox.  Pitt.  Gladstone.  Sheridan.  O'Connell.  Bright.  Web- 
ster. Henry.  Clay.  Beecher.  Phillips.  Brooks.  Ingersoll. 
Grady.    Bryan. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE 

Most  people  who  are  interested  in  the  art  of  speech- 
making  reahze  the  very  great  importance  of  good  de- 
hvery,  since  the  success  of  any  speech  depends  in  large 
measure  upon  the  effectiveness  with  which  it  is  delivered. 
It  has  often  been  maintained  that  the  reason  why  so 
many  people  speak  poorly  is  that  they  have  nothing 
worth  while  to  say,  and  that  if  a  speaker  has  anything 
really  worth  while  to  give  to  his  audience  —  any  real  mes- 
sage—  he  will  deliver  it  well.  It  would  be  as  reasonable 
to  expect  that  one  who  has  anything  to  write  will  write 
it  well  or  that  he  who  has  anything  to  paint  will  paint  it 
well  upon  the  canvas,  regardless  of  training. 

In  respect  to  the  importance  of  good  delivery  in 
speaking,  Emerson  once  made  the  significant  statement 
that  what  is  said  is  the  least  part  of  an  oration,  which 
is  only  one  way  of  saying  that  the  most  vital  message 
may  be  ineffective  if  poorly  delivered.  We  are  all  familiar 
with  instances  where  speakers  have  spent  much  time  in 
careful  preparation,  where  there  has  been  clear  and  logical 
organization  of  material,  and  yet  where  the  final  effect 
of  the  speech  has  been  wholly  unsatisfactory  because  of 
a  failure  to  deliver  it  well.  It  is  important  that  we  con- 
sider at  the  outset  some  of  the  causes  for  the  failure  of 
speeches  that  would  be  good  if  well  delivered. 

37 


38  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

Nearly  all  faults  of  speech  work  on  the  side  of  delivery 
are  due  either  to  a  wrong  conception  of  what  good  delivery 
is  or  to  the  failure  to  employ  correct  principles  in  its  use. 

Misconceptions  of  speech  delivery.  A  wrong  concep- 
tion of  good  delivery  is  much  more  common  than  one 
would  generally  suppose.  The  most  common  misconcep- 
tion seems  to  be  that  the  tone  to  be  used  in  the  delivery 
V  of  a  speech,  no  matter  what  the  character  of  the  speech 
may  be,  should  be  something  lofty  and  high  soundings 
that  the  mere  fact  that  it  is  to  be  a  speech  demands  a 
tone  of  voice  entirely  different  from  that  which  would 
be  used  in  conversation.  The  result  is  that  the  speaker 
assumes  for  the  occasion  a  tone  of  voice  that  is  very 
unnatural,  and  one  that  he  would  never  be  likely  to  use 
in  his  normal  conversation.  The  chief  characteristic  of 
the  tone  that  seems  to  be  commonly  assumed  for  this 
purpose  is  sonorousfiess.  It  is  generally  one  that,  to  the 
minds  of  many  people,  is  fine  sounding]  one  that  in 
their  opinion  has  the  stamp  of  real  eloquence. 

Anyone  who  will  merely  take  the  pains  to  listen  will 
have  abundant  opportunity  to  observe  how  very  common 
is  the  habit  of  employing  a  tone  of  voice  for  purposes 
vv  of  public  speech  that  is  entirely  different  from  that  used 
in  private  speech,  the  idea  appearing  to  be  that  a  tone 
of  an  entirely  different  character  is  needed  in  the  one 
instance  from  that  of  the  othet*  The  services  of  our 
churches  illustrate  how  common  is  this  misconception 
among  the  clergy.  Indeed,  so  much  is  the  unnatural 
mode  of  speech  in  vogue  in  the  pulpit  that  the  "minis- 
terial tone"  and  the  *' preacher's  cadence"  have  become 
familiar  terms. 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  39 

Conventional  pulpit  oratory.  Not  long  ago  I  attended 
a  church  service  in  a  small  country  village.  The  delivery 
of  the  preacher  was  entirely  unnatural ;  partaking  of  the 
nature  of  a  wailing,  melancholy  tone  that  lent  to  the 
service  an  almost  funereal  atmosphere.  A  few  weeks 
later  I  attended  the  services  of  a  prominent  church  in 
one  of  our  large  cities.  A  comparison  of  the  two  serv- 
ices from  the  standpoint  of  the  melody  of  speech  proved 
exceedingly  interesting.  While  the  atmosphere  created 
by  the  tones  of  the  city  preacher  was  less  sanctimonious 
than  that  of  the  country  preacher,  the  delivery  was  but 
very  little  better.  The  sermon  was  delivered  in  a  dis- 
tinctly ministerial  tone,  seasoned  throughout  with  the 
conventional  preacher's  cadences  and  decidedly  lacking 
in  anything  that  might  be  said  to  be  of  the  nature  of 
direct,  conversational  speaking.  The  entire  service  was 
the  same  so  far  as  the  tone  elements  were  concerned. 
There  was  no  variation  from  the  method  ;  even  the  hymns 
and  church  notices  were  announced  with  exactly  the  same 
intonation  as  the  reading  of  the  scripture  and  the  delivery 
of  the  sermon.  All  the  time  the  preacher  was  speaking 
one  could  not  refrain  from  thinking  what  a  relief  it  would 
be  if  he  would  only  lay  aside  his  assumed  tone  and  speak 
in  a  simple,  direct  way  that  would  cany  his  message 
straight  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  hearers. 

Anyone  who  knows  tfie  difference  between  good  speak- 
ing and  poor  realizes  how  rare  a  thing  it  is  to  hear  in 
the  pulpit  at  the  present  time  a  sermon  delivered  in 
a  really  straightforward  manner.  The  mode  of  delivery 
that  has  become  conventional  —  one  that  is  employed  only 
on  certain  occasions  where  it  is  considered  appropriate  — 


40  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  incident:  A  minister 
of  my  acquaintance  precedes  his  Sunday  morning  sermon 
with  a  short  sermon  to  the  children,  who  are  usually 
seated  apart  from  the  regular  congregation  at  one  side 
of  the  church  and  are  dismissed  as  soon  as  his  address 
to  them  is  finished.  His  children's  sermon  is  always 
direct,  earnest,  and  entirely  conversational.  But  as  soon 
as  he  goes  behind  his  pulpit  to  address  his  adult  con- 
gregation, his  delivery  changes.  He  no  longer  speaks  in 
the  same  direct,  personal  manner  in  which  he  spoke  to 
the  children.  His  tone  can  best  be  characterized  as  dis- 
tinctly ''  ministerial."  The  voice  is  raised  above  that  of 
his  former  speaking ;  it  is  sonorous  and  somewhat  pom- 
pous ;  he  does  not  speak  to  his  congregation  as  though 
he  were  saying,  ''  This  message  is  vital  and  it  is  for  you." 
It  seems  rather  to  be  a  sermon  that  has  been  carefully  pre- 
pared and  is  merely  spoken  before  his  congregation  in  a 
manner  that  partakes  of  the  nature  of  a  kind  of  soliloquy, 
as  though  he  were  not  speaking  to  anyone  in  particular. 

Now,  surely,  we  cannot  say  it  is  any  lack  of  sincerity 
on  the  part  of  this  minister  that  makes  the  delivery  of 
his  children's  sermon  seem  thoroughly  vital  and  that  to 
his  regular  congregation  merely  perfunctory.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  he  has  the  same  earnestness  of  purpose 
in  both  instances.  The  explanation  is  clearly  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  he  never  thinks  of  his  address  to  the 
children  as  anything  more  than  a  friendly  little  talk, 
while  to  him  the  regular  sermon  is  not  a  mere  talk 
but  a  formal  speech.  This  difference  in  his  conception 
of  the  two  explains  the  difference  in  the  mode  of  his 
delivery  in  the  two  instances.    In  addressing  the  children 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  41 

he  sometimes  calls  them  by  name  and  asks  them  questions 
to  which  they  reply.  He  has  probably  never  stopped  to 
think  that  the  sermon  to  his  congregation  is  as  truly  a 
conversation  with  them  as  is  his  talk  to  the  children, 
except  that  the  response  of  the  audience  to  his  words  is 
mental,  and  not  verbal  as  in  the  case  of  the  children. 

Please  understand  that  I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  that 
this  clergyman's  delivery  might  not  be  less  colloquial  in 
addressing  his  adult  congregation  than  in  talking  to  the 
children,  and  very  properly  so,  but  there  is  no  well- justified 
reason  why  it  should  be  less  conversational.  Whenever 
a  speaker  comes  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  in  the  de- 
livery of  a  speech,  of  any  kind  whatsoever,  he  is  merely 
carrying  on  a  conversation  with  his  audience  (their  part 
in  the  conversation  usually  being  merely  a  mental  re- 
sponse to  his  words,  but  no  less  a  genuine  response  than 
if  they  were  to  express  their  thoughts  aloud),  he  will 
then  understand  the  real  significance  of  triLe  conversa- 
tional speaking.  His  mode  of  conversation  may  be  very 
colloquial  or  it  may  have  a  marked  degree  of  formality 
about  it,  as  will  be  better  understood  after  reading  the 
latter  part  of  this  discussion  ;  but  in  either  instance  there 
is  no  reason  why  it  may  not  be  genuinely  ind  funda- 
mentally conversational,  that  is,  a  real  conversation  carried 
on  with  the  audience  and  not  a  mere  ''giving  forth" 
of  ideas  and  high-sounding  tones. 

But  there  are  evidences  that  the  clergy  are  awakening 
to  their  shortcomings  in  speech.  At  a  ministerial  con- 
ference in  Chicago  not  long  ago  the  Reverend  Hanson 
Pulsford  of  Chicago  addressed  his  fellow  clergymen  upon 
the  theme,  "  Sunday  Voices  Must  Go."    The  following 


X 


42  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

significant  statement,  made  during  the  course  of  the  address, 
gives  promise  of  a  change  in  the  style  of  pulpit  speaking 
for  the  future :  *'  If  church  members  would  demand  that 
ministers  get  rid  of  their  Sunday  voices  and  language 
and  speak  in  everyday  terms,  it  would  be  one  of  the  most 
helpful  things  for  the  churches  of  the  present  day." 

The  evils  of  political  oratory.  The  clergyman  is  by 
no  means  the  only  transgressor,  however.  The  political 
orator  is  probably  more  at  fault,  for  he  often  has  many 
of  the  bad  habits  of  the  preacher  in  addition  to  others  pe- 
culiar to  the  politician.  Not  only  does  he  employ  the  min- 
isterial tone  and  the  preacher's  cadence  but  he  soars,  and, 
listening  to  his  bombastic  lauding  of  the  glorious  Stars  and 
Stripes,  you  wonder  whether  such  a  thing  remains  as  sanity 
in  speech,  and  pray  for  the  day  when  men  can  keep  below 
the  clouds  and  give  you  their  convictions  in  just  plain  talk. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  the  boy  of  high-school  or 
college  age,  who  takes  as  his  ideal  the  minister  or  the 
political  orator,  usually  has  a  false  idea  of  what  good 
delivery  is !  To  him  it  appears  to  be  something  that  is 
chiefly  for  purposes  of  display — tone  for  tone's  sake  and 
gesture  for  gesture's  sake,  rather  than  tone  and  gesture 
used  always  as  instruments  of  effective  expression.  And 
as  a  result  we  find  him  substituting  sound  for  sense  and 
"  orating  "  instead  of  conversing. 

The  foundation  of  all  good  delivery.  The  first  principle 
of  delivery  that  the  young  speaker  has  to  learn  is  that 
sonorous  tones  and  spectacular  gestures  do  not  constitute 
effective  speaking  and  that  voice  and  gesture  are  not 
ends  in  themselves,  but  are  merely  means  for  the  sincere 
expression  of  one's  thoughts  and  feelings.    To  be  sure, 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  43 

there  was  a  time  when  pubhc  speaking  savored  much 
of  the  sonorous  and  pompous,  but  that  time  is  past.  The 
extravagant  style  of  Patrick  Henry's  time  would  not  be 
tolerated  to-day.  The  demand  of  the  present  day  is  for 
speaking  of  a  conversational,  businesslike  type  without 
display  or  fustian,  that  carries  a  message  straight  to  the 
hearers  in  the  most  unaffected  manner  possible. 

The  important  thing  for  the  learner  to  keep  in  mind 
constantly  is  that  effective  public  speaking,  as  we  regard 
it  to-day,  does  not  consist  in  speaking  forth  ideas  in  fine- 
sounding  style  so  as  to  make  audiences  listen  with  open- 
mouthed  wonder.  No  doubt  this  was  a  conception  common 
among  the  spellbinders  of  twenty-five  years  ago,  but  it 
will  not  do  to-day.  We  have  little  use  at  the  present 
time  for  the  orator  whose  chief  appeal  is  that  of  rhetori- 
cal bombast  and  sonorous  pomposity.  We  demand  in 
these  days,  first  of  all  that  the  public  speaker  have  some- 
thing to  say  that  is  worth  while,  and  in  the  second  place 
that  he  be  able  to  say  it  in  a  manner  that  appeals  to  our 
understanding  without  offending  our  ear. 

The  essentially  conversational  in  delivery.  Wendell 
Phillips  was  the  first  orator  of  note  to  employ  the  mode 
of  delivery  which  is  commonly  characterized  to-day  as  the 
conversational.  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  comments 
upon  Phillips's  speaking  as  follows : 

The  keynote  of  the  oratory  of  Wendell  Phillips  lay  in 
this :  that  it  was  essentially  conversational  —  the  conversa- 
tional raised  to  its  highest  power.  Perhaps  no  orator  ever 
spoke  with  so  little  apparent  effort  or  began  so  entirely  on 
the  plane  of  his  average  hearers.  It  was  as  if  he  repeated 
in  a  little  louder  tone  what  he  had  just  been  saying  to  some 
familiar  friend  at  his  elbow. 


44  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Perhaps  no  other  single  suggestion  regarding  speech 
delivery  is  so  vital  as  that  contained  in  this  statement.  It 
strikes  at  the  very  heart  of  the  problem.  All  effective  speak- 
ing should  have  as  its  basis  plain  conversation — the  direct 
communication  between  man  and  man.  But  it  is  often 
objected  that  plain  conversation  is  not  public  speaking. 
It  is  too  informal,  too  much  lacking  in  force  and  power 
to  sway  audiences.  Quite  true,  there  are  certain  differ- 
ences between  ordinary  conversation  and  public  speak- 
ing. The  important  thing  to  remember,  however,  is  that 
these  differences  are  merely  incidental  and  in  no  way 
fundamental. 

When  a  man  sits  down  to  discuss  a  topic  with  a  friend, 
he  does  not  assume  an  artificial  tone  of  voice ;  neither  are 
his  vocal  inflections  monotonous  and  inexpressive.  On 
the  contrary,  they  are  quite  the  opposite.  His  tone  of 
voice  is  that  of  very  natural  conversation,  and  his  inflec- 
tions, pauses,  and  the  like  give  the  natural  variety  of 
expression  that  conveys  in  a  very  clear  manner  the  ideas 
he  is  trying  to  present.  Exactly  the  same  thing  should 
be  done  if  he  is  to  stand  before  an  audience  to  express 
his  views  upon  a  given  subject.  The  thing  that  he  is 
likely  to  do,  however,  as  he  comes  before  his  audience 
is  to  change  the  character  of  his  voice  entirely,  making 
it  high-sounding  and  unnatural,  or  perhaps  to  lift  it  to 
a  high  key  and  hold  it  there  throughout  the  entire  speech, 
or  to  speak  so  loud  that  the  ear  becomes  weary  for  lack 
of  change.  Whatever  may  be  the  fault,  it  usually  can 
be  traced  directly  to  the  misconception  that  public  speak- 
ing is  something  entirely  different  from  conversing  and 
therefore  requires  a  different  tone  and  manner. 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  45 

The  so-called  public  manner  and  private  manner.    It  is 

sometimes  contended  that  public  speech  is,  in  the  very 
necessity  of  the  case,  more  formal  than  private  speech 
and  therefore  requires  a  more  formal  mode  of  delivery. 
To  be  sure,  the  conditions  of  public  speech  are  usually 
more  conventional  than  those  of  private  conversation. 
The  mere  fact  that  the  public  speaker  generally  addresses 
a  larger  number,  in  a  larger  room  and  at  a  fixed  time 
and  place,  tends  to  make  it  so.  Under  these  conditions 
he  would  not  be  likely  to  express  himself  in  the  same 
informal  manner  with  which  he  would  address  a  friend 
at  his  own  fireside.  His  diction  would  probably  be  less 
colloquial,  his  manner  more  dignified,  and  .his  whole 
mode  of  delivery  that  befitting  the  public  occasion. 

But  can  it  be  said  that  these  are  fundamental  differ- 
ences that  make  the  act  of  public  speech  one  thing  and  \l 
that  of  private  conversation  something  entirely  different, 
or  are  they  differences  that  are  merely  incidental  to  the 
circumstances  ?  Unquestionably  the  latter.  The  speaker, 
whether  in  private  conversation  or  before  an  audience, 
will  express  himself  in  a  manner  best  suited  to  the  occa- 
sion. If  he  is  called  upon  to  speak  at  a  great  public 
gathering  where  momentous  issues  are  at  stake  and  it  is 
necessary  to  arouse  public  sentiment  or  inspire  patriotism, 
naturally  his  manner  and. delivery  will  be  different  from 
what  it  is  if  he  is  merely  to  discuss  some  current  topic 
before  a  small  group  of  his  intimate  associates.  Likewise, 
in  private  conversation  a  discussion  with  a  friend  on  some 
weighty  moral  or  religious  question  will  be  quite  different  ^' 
from  his  mode  of  address  if  he  casually  met  his  friend  and 
passed  the  time  of  day.    So,  whether  before  an  audience 


46  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

or  in  conversation  with  a  friend,  the  dehvery  of  the  speaker 
will  be  conditioned  entirely  by  the  circumstances.  But 
this  in  no  way  tends  to  show  that  the  delivery  of  the  public 
speech  should  be  entirely  different  in  its  elements  from 
that  of  private  speech.  And  all  discussions  of  the  speaker's 
"public  manner"  and  the  speaker's  ''private  manner" 
are  worse  than  useless,  for  they  only  give  rise  to  wrong 
impressions  of  the  essentials  of  all  speech  delivery. 

Conversational  delivery  not  necessarily  colloquial. 
There  seems  to  be  the  misconception  with  nearly  every 
student  of  speaking  that  by  conversational  delivery  is 
meant  a  mode  of  delivery  that  is  entirely  colloquial,  that 
is,  informal.  This  is  by  no  means  the  case.  Speaking 
that  is  very  formal  may  be  as  truly  conversational  as  that 
which  is  wholly  informal.  All  depends,  as  we  have  seen, 
upon  the  occasion  and  the  circumstances.  A  student 
speaking  before  just  a  group  of  men  of  his  own  college 
fraternity  would  in  all  probability  address  them  in  a  very 
informal  manner ;  while  if  he  were  chosen  to  speak  upon 
commencement  day  before  an  audience  of  two  thousand 
people,  he  would  certainly  speak  with  a  far  greater  measure 
of  dignity  and  formality.  In  both  cases,  however,  his 
speaking  could  be  equally  conversational.  What,  then, 
do  we  mean  by  a  mode  of  delivery  that  is  fundamentally 
conversational }  Simply  that  rnqde^  of  using  the  voice 
which  expresses  thought  and  feeling  g^enuinely  and  to  a 
purpose,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  me-^f^  ^'^rnh^''^  '^'"'^  ^ffprt 
The  Fourth  of  July  orator  who  revels  in  the  "We,  the 
people  of  this  country,"  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  "  style  of  delivery,  with  all  the  attendant  flour- 
ishes of  the  voice  which  are  so  familiar  to  anyone  who 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  47 

has  ever  listened  to  it,  does  little  more  than  impress  the 
"  groundlings,  who  for  the  most  part  are  capable  of  nothing 
but  dumb  show  and  noise." 

Let  the  speaker  take  the  attitude  not  of  one  whose 
duty  it  is  to  inspire  a  sense  of  awe  but  rather  of  one 
whose  purpose  it  is  to  reason  with  his  audience,  —  to 
"think  with"  them,  if  you  please, — and  he  will  be 
pretty  sure  to  employ  in  his  speaking  the  real  elements 
of  conversation,  whether  the  occasion  be  one  that  admits 
of  the  most  easy-going,  colloquial  style  of  delivery  or  one 
that  requires  a  great  deal  of  dignity  and  formality. 

Degrees  of  formality  within  the  conversational  mode. 
The  student  of  public  speaking  should  learn  the  differ- 
ences between  that  mode  of  delivery  which,  whether 
formal  or  informal,  may  be  characterized  as  fundamentally 
conversational  and  those  modes  of  delivery  which  have 
no  basis  in  real  conversation  but  are  always  more  ox  less 
grandiloquent  and  unnatural.  The  following  simple  dia- 
gram will  serve  to  make  clear  the  difference  between 
conversational  and  unconversational  forms  of  delivery  : 

The  Limits  of  the  Conversational      Unconversational 
Mode  Forms  of  Delivery 


1.  Recited 

2.  Ministerial 

3.  Grandiloquent 


Let  us  consider  the  conversational  mode  of  delivery  as 
a  kind  of  graduated  scale  and,  for  the  sake  of  convenience, 
imagine  i,  2,  3,  4  of  this  scale  as  representing  different 
forms  of  delivery,  all  of  which  are  conversational  but 
differ  in  degrees  of  formality. 


48  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Point  I  on  this  scale  might  illustrate  the  simplest  form 
of  conversational  delivery,  the  purely  colloquial,  where  the 
speaker  employs  the  most  easy-going,  informal  mode  of 
delivery  that  he  would  ever  be  likely  to  use.  This  would 
be  typical  of  his  mode  of  addressing  a  group  of  his  most 
intimate  associates,  where  no  formality  of  any  kind  would 
be  necessary. 

Point  2  might  represent  a  slightly  more  formal  mode 
of  utterance,  such  as  would  be  suitable  for  an  address  to 
a  club  interested  in  literary  or  current  topics.  Here  the 
speaker  would  be  conversing  with  his  audience  the  same 
as  in  the  first  instance,  but  with  the  difference  that  the 
nature  of  the  occasion  (that  is,  the  fact  that  he  was  to 
speak  upon  a  given  topic  at  a  set  time  and  place  and 
before  people  with  many  of  whom  he  was  not  inti- 
mately acquainted,  or  perhaps  not  acquainted  at  all)  would 
tend  to  make  him  speak  in  a  somewhat  more  painstaking 
manner,  perhaps  with  more  deliberation,  better  diction, 
and  more  careful  enunciation  than  in  the  first  instance, 
where  the  occasion  required  nothing  more  than  the  utmost 
informality. 

Point  3,  a  still  more  elevated  form  of  conversational 
speaking,  would  be  well  illustrated  by  an  occasion  of  very 
considerable  importance,  such  as  a  commemorative  address, 
where  all  of  the  circumstances  associated  with  the  event 
would  cause  the  speaker  to  employ  a  much  more  formal 
mode  of  delivery  than  he  would  be  likely  to  use  in  either 
of  the  former  instances,  and  still  one  that  at  the  same  time 
would  be  just  as  truly  conversational.  The  sentiment  con- 
nected with  such  an  occasion,  particularly  if  it  had  some 
close  personal  significance  for  the  speaker,  would  tend  to 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  49 

influence  his  emotions  in  a  way  that  would  make  his  voice 
sound  very  different  from  what  it  would  under  either  of 
the  two  circumstances  just  mentioned.  Yet  it  need  not 
be  in  any  way  unnatural  or  bombastic  but,  as  in  the 
case  of  Wendell  Phillips,  merely  a  more  elevated  form 
of  conversation. 

Point  4,  which  stands  at  the  top  of  the  conversational 
scale,  represents  the  most  elevated  form  of  conversational 
speaking,  that  which  is  employed  on  great  occasions  where 
important  issues  are  at  stake  and  the  emotions  are  likely 
to  play  a  very  important  part.  On  such  occasions  as  this 
no  speaker  who  has  the  spark  of  true  eloquence  in  his 
soul  is  going  to  talk  in  a  way  that  sounds  just  the  same 
as  though  he  were  addressing  a  small  group  of  people  on 
a  matter-of-fact  topic.  The  simple  fact  is  that  the  emo- 
tions arising  from  the  occasion,  from  the  dignity  of  the 
theme,  and  from  all  of  the  circumstances  connected  with 
a  momentous  event  of  this  kind  give  rise  to  an  elevated 
delivery  that  unquestionably  sounds  very  different  from 
the  less  elevated  forms  of  conversational  speaking.  And 
yet  it  should  be  noted  well  that  because  it  sounds  different 
and  is  more  elevated  it  need  not  be  any  the  less  funda- 
mentally conversational.  That  is  to  say,  the  speaker  may 
be  just  as  truly  conversing  with  his  audience  as  though 
he  were  addressing  a  small  group  informally.  Here  is 
where  the  difficulty  usually  arises,  where  most  high-school 
declaimers  and  college  orators  make  their  fatal  mistake. 
They  fail  to  understand  that  the  speaker  may  be  truly  ora- 
torical and  at  the  same  time  entirely  conversational  in  his 
delivery.  Accordingly,  they  ape  the  barnstormer,  whose 
delivery  is  mere  sound  and  fury  and  nothing  more. 


so  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

Let  the  speaker  understand  that  to  be  truly  conversa- 
tional he  must  be  at  all  times  conversing  with  his  audience, 
-V  that  is,  really  thinking  with  them  and  not  merely  speaking 
at  them  in  high-sounding  style.  When  once  he  gets  this 
conception  of  conversational  speaking,  he  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  understanding  how  one's  delivery  may  range 
all  the  way  from  the  simplest  form  of  colloquialism  to  the 
loftiest  eloquence  of  the  great  occasion,  and  yet  at  all 
times  and  in  every  circumstance  retain  all  the  essential 
elements  of  the  most  direct  conversation. 

The  mistake  should  not  be  made  of  supposing  that 
the  simple  diagram  that  we  have  used  to  illustrate  how 
conversational  speaking  may  be  more  or  less  elevated  is 
intended  to  show  that  there  are  just  four  distinct  types 
of  conversational  speech.  This  division  is  entirely  arbi- 
trary (it  might  as  well  be  ten  or  any  other  number)  and 
is  intended  merely  to  show  how  speaking  that  sounds 
very  different  and  is  adapted  to  every  variety  of  circum- 
stance may  all  be  truly  conversational  in  its  essential, 
character. 

What,  then,  is  to  be  said  of  the  speaking  that  does  not 
come  within  the  limits  of  what  we  have  called  the  conver- 
sational mode  of  delivery  ?  Such  speaking  is  that  which 
has  a  flavor  of  the  ''  ministerial  tone,"  the  ''  recited  tone," 
the  ''  stump-speaker's  tone,"  or  some  other  such  charac- 
teristic, which  possesses  always  more  or  less  of  an  ele- 
ment of  artificiality.  The  objection  to  it  is  that  it  is  hollow 
and  unnatural  and  is,  for  the  most  part,  for  the  sake  of 
sound  instead  of  sense.  If  there  is  doubt  of  this  in  the 
niind  of  anybody,  sufficiently  convincing  proof  may  be 
had  by  listening  to  the  high-school  boy  who  ''orates"  in 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  51 

a  vociferous  tone,  with  often  not  the  slightest  thought  of 
the  meaning  of  the  words  that  he  is  uttering  and  certainly 
with  no  conception  of  really  conversing  with  his  audience. 
And  if  this  is  not  sufficient  evidence,  go  to  hear  some 
of  the  many  speakers  who  assume  the  solemn  cadences 
that  are  characteristic  of  the  ''ministerial  tone"  or  the 
unnatural  vocal  flights  of  the  stump  speaker,  and  there 
will  be  little  doubt  as  to  the  falseness  of  such  modes  of 
delivery. 

To  be  sure,  there  is  justification  under  certain  circum- 
stances for  these  hollow  forms  of  delivery.  For  instance, 
upon  the  stage,  where  all  is  a  play  world  and  it  is  just 
as  much  the  function  of  the  actor  to  portray  the  grotesque 
as  any  other  type  of  life,  they  may  all  be  used  and  very 
properly  so.  But  they  have  no  place  in  the  realm  of  speech- 
making,  where  the  aim  is  first,  last,  and  always  to  converse 
with  the  audience  in  a  manner  that  may  be  entirely  in- 
formal, very  formal,  or  any  of  the  varying  degrees  between 
these  two  extremes  of  the  scale,  depending  wholly  upon 
the  circumstances.  With  a  clear  understanding,  then,  of 
what  the  conversational  mode  is,  the  only  thing  that 
remains  is  to  learn  how  to  use  it. 

The  oratory  of  Wendell  Phillips  as  a  type.  The  key- 
note of  the  delivery  of  Wendell  Phillips  is  the  point  of 
departure  for  all  effective  speaking  in  that  it  was  essen- 
tially conversational.  His  biographers  tell  us  that  in  his 
delivery  there  was  no  element  of  display  or  bombast ; 
that  his  idea  of  conveying  a  message  to  an  audience 
effectively  was  that  of  speaking  in  a  very  simple  manner 
as  if  he  were  carrying  on  a  conversation  with  a  single 
individual  in  his  audience.    He  spoke  as  one  might  speak 


52  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

in  conversation,  where  the  voice  modulates  naturally  in 
response  to  the  changing  thought  or  emotion,  wholly  with- 
out aim  for  effect  or  display  of  any  kind.  As  Higginson 
suggests,  it  was  as  if  he  repeated  to  his  audience  in  a 
little  louder  tone  what  he  had  just  said  to  a  friend  at  his 
side.  In  short,  his  public  speech  was  merely  heightened 
conversation  —  his  normal  conversation  made  louder  and 
stronger  to  meet  the  needs  of  his  larger  audience.  As 
was  said  of  him,  ''His  speaking  was  always  that  of  a 
gentleman  conversing."  No  one  to-day  doubts  the  effec- 
tiveness of  this  principle  in  Phillips's  oratory.  His  oppo- 
nents spoke  of  him  as  "  an  infernal  machine  set  to  music," 
and  Dr.  James  Bashford,i  who  heard  him  on  several  occa- 
sions, says  :  ''  Mr.  Phillips's  art  was  more  nearly  perfect 
than  that  of  any  other  man  I  have  ever  heard.  The  lan- 
guage and  tones  and  gestures  were  so  perfectly  adapted 
to  the  thought  that  he  seemed  the  most  natural  speaker 
I  ever  listened  to." 

This  principle  may  be  taken  by  the  student  as  the 
basis  for  all  his  work  in  delivery.  Let  him  lay  aside  all 
/  ideas  about  speaking  that  is  high  sounding  and  employed 
for  effect,  and  let  him  merely  converse  with  his  audience 
as  he  would  converse  with  a  single  individual  in  that  audi- 
ence, taking  pains  to  speak  loud  enough  to  be  heard 
distinctly  by  every  person  in  the  room  and  in  a  manner 
befitting  the  occasion  and  surroundings.  This  is  the  first 
and  most  fundamental  step.  Then,  when  he  finds  that  he 
is  able  to  face  his  audience  and  merely  converse  with 
them,  all  of  the  elements  of  vocal  expression  may  be 
brought  to  his  aid  to  make  that  conversation  effective. 

1  Fulton  and  Trueblood,  Practical  Elocution,  Appendix. 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  53 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  FOR  GAINING  THE 
CONVERSATIONAL  MODE 

Exercise  I.  Let  the  student  choose  another  member 
of  his  class  in  speaking  who  will  act  as  his  auditor  and 
critic.  Let  him  sit  down  at  a  table  in  a  very  informal 
manner  opposite  his  partner  and  take  up  the  discussion 
of  some  current  topic  that  is  of  vital  interest  to  both.  In 
the  discussion  of  this  topic  he  should  aim  to  set  forth  his 
views  in  regard  to  the  subject  in  as  clear  and  orderly  a 
manner  as  possible,  employing  simple  language  and  the 
best  diction  he  is  able  to  command.  His  sole  purpose 
should  be  to  set  forth  his  views  of  the  subject  so  clearly 
that  his  partner  cannot  fail  to  understand  him,  and  so 
convincingly  that  he  will  be  obliged  to  agree  that  he  is 
right.  If  he  has  sometime  been  a  high-school  declaimer 
and  assumes  a  false  mode  of  delivery,  as  is  so  often  the 
case,  his  partner  should  put  such  questions  as :  '*  Well 
now,  I  did  n't  just  get  that  point.  Won't  you  explain  it 
again  ?  "  In  this  way  all  the  natural  tones  and  inflections 
of  the  most  direct  conversation  will  be  established. 

Then,  let  us  suppose  that  his  partner  fails  to  be  con- 
vinced and  he  finds  it  necessary  to  employ  more  forceful 
language.  Let  him  stand  up  and  argue  his  case  with 
much  greater  earnestness,  using  gestures  and  pounding 
the  table  if  necessary,  but  all  the  time  speaking  in  a 
tone  of  voice  that  shows  his  great  desire  to  convince  his 
partner  that  he  is  right. 

After  considerable  practice  of  this  kind  in  direct  and 
conversational  speaking  let  him  go  upon  a  platform  and 
argue  his  cause  before  an  imaginary  audience.  It  is  ex- 
ceedingly important  that  he  should  not  consciously  think 
of  this  act  as  ''  making  a  speech  "  but  rather  as  an  attempt 
to  convince  a  considerable  number  of  people  of  the  truth 


54  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  the  proposition  that  he  is  advocating,  just  as  he  did 
when  speaking  to  his  partner  as  an  individual.  Perhaps 
in  this  last  instance  he  will  employ  more  vocal  power  and 
more  gestures  to  emphasize  his  arguments,  but  funda- 
mentally his  delivery  will  be  the  same  as  when  he  sat 
opposite  his  partner  at  the  table.  That  is,  it  will  be  essen- 
tially conversational  in  that  there  is  no  attempt  at  display 
of  any  kind,  but  a  sincere  straight-from-the-shoulder  argu- 
ment the  sole  aim  of  which  is  to  convince  his  audience 
that  he  is  right. 

This  is  probably  the  most  valuable  exercise  that  can  be 
used  for  gaining  the  essential  elements  of  conversational 
speaking,  and  should  be  given  an  earnest  trial  by  every- 
one who  has  trouble  with  any  of  the  hollow  and  unnatural 
forms  of  delivery  that  are  so  common  at  the  present  time. 

Exercise  II.  Another  valuable  exercise  for  gaining 
the  conversational  mode  is  that  of  using  speeches  that 
are  of  very  conversational  nature.  Let  the  student  work 
with  his  partner  as  in  the  first  exercise.  Let  him  make  a 
careful  study  of  Elbert  Hubbard's  ''  A  Message  to  Garcia  " 
until  he  has  thoroughly  assimilated  the  thought  and  can 
read  it  with  reasonably  good  expression.  Then  he  should 
sit  down  with  his  classmate  and  read  the  speech  to  him 
in  a  conversational  tone,  having  foremost  in  his  mind  all 
the  time  an  earnest  desire  to  convey  the  thought  to  him 
in  a  very  direct  manner.  Then  let  him  close  the  book 
and  tell  in  his  own  words  a  simple  narrative  of  what  he 
has  just  read.  His  tone  should  be  that  of  one  speaking 
in  a  very  informal  way  to  a  friend.  When  he  can  read 
the  speech  and  tell  the  story-  of  it  in  his  own  words  in 
a  perfectly  conversational  manner,  he  should  then  stand 
upon  the  platform  and  narrate  the  incidents  of  the  story 
with  all  the  elements  of  conversation  that  he  used  while 
sitting  at  his  classmate's  side.    But  never  for  a  moment 


THE  CONVERSATIONAL  MODE  55 

should  he  forget  that  he  is  there  for  the  express  purpose 
of  communicating  thought  and  not-  for  the  purpose  of 
making  fine-sounding  tones.  This  is  a  very  natural  way 
of  establishing  the  conversational  mode  of  speaking  and 
if  carried  out  conscientiously  will  bring  sure  and  certain 
results.  The  one  who  acts  as  auditor  should  give  as 
intelligent  and  helpful  criticism  as  possible.  He  should 
require  the  speaker  to  convey  the  thought  to  him  in  the 
tone  of  natural  conversation.  If  at  any  time  during  the 
speaker's  narrative  he  fails  to  do  this,  he  should  be  stopped 
and  asked  to  look  directly  at  his  classmate  and  to  express 
the  thought  in  the  direct,  animated  fashion  that  he  would 
be  likely  to  use  in  speaking  of  some  college  activity  in 
which  he  was  greatly  interested.  This  he  will  not  be 
likely  to  do  unless  the  idea  that  he  is  trying  to  express 
is  uppermost  in  his  mind  all  the  time  he  is  speaking. 

It  is  important,  therefore,  that  he  have  the  same  keen 
interest  in  the  narrative  that  he  is  trying  to  give  as  he 
would  have  in  a  proposition  that  he  was  arguing,  and 
the  same  desire  to  impress  the  story  upon  the  listener  as 
he  would  to  convince  in  the  argument.  Otherwise  his 
delivery  will  not  be  likely  to  be  more  than  half  conversa- 
tional in  its  elements. 

The  following  extract  from  the  pen  of  Elbert  Hubbard 
is  well  suited  to  the  purpose  of  gaining  the  conversational 
mode  according  to  the  plan  suggested  : 

A  MESSAGE  TO  GARCIA 

When  war  broke  out  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States  it  was  very  necessary  to  communicate  quickly  with 
the  leader  of  the  Insurgents.  Garcia  was  somewhere  in 
the  mountain  fastnesses  of  Cuba  —  no  one  knew  where. 
No  mail  or  telegraph  message  could  reach  him.  The 
President  must  secure  his  cooperation,  and  quickly. 


56  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

What  to  do ! 

Someone  said  to  the  President,  "  There 's  a  fellow  by 
the  name  of  Rowan  will  find  Garcia  for  you  if  anybody 
can."  Rowan  was  sent  for  and  given  a  letter  to  be  deliv- 
ered to  Garcia.  How  "  the  fellow  by  the  name  of  Rowan  " 
took  the  letter,  sealed  it  up  in  an  oilskin  pouch,  strapped  it 
over  his  heart,  in  four  days  landed  by  night  off  the  coast 
of  Cuba  from  an  open  boat,  disappeared  into  the  jungle, 
and  in  three  weeks  came  out  on  the  other  side  of  the 
island,  having  traversed  a  hostile  country  on  foot,  and 
delivered  his  letter  to  Garcia,  are  things  I  have  no  special 
desire  now  to  tell  in  detail. 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  is  this :  McKinley  gave  Rowan 
a  letter  to  be  delivered  to  Garcia ;  Rowan  took  the  letter 
and  did  not  ask,  "  Where  is  he  at  ?  "  By  the  Eternal !  there 
is  a  man  whose  form  should  be  cast  in  deathless  bronze 
and  his  statue  placed  in  every  college  of  the  land.  It  is  not 
book-learning  young  men  need,  nor  instruction  about  this 
and  that,  but  a  stiffening  of  the  vertebras  which  will  cause 
them  to  be  loyal  to  a  trust,  to  act  promptly,  concentrate 
their  energies,  do  the  thing — "  Carry  a  message  to  Garcia !  " 


CHAPTER  III 
ACTION 

Action  is  that  part  of  delivery  which  appeals  to  the 
eyes  of  the  audience.  Nothing  is  more  true  of  public 
address  than  the  old  proverb  "  Action  speaks  louder 
than  words."  The  speaker  may  use  his  voice  correctly 
and  may  say  the  things  that  are  entirely  in  keeping  with 
the  occasion,  yet  his  action  may  be  so  out  of  harmony 
with  the  other  elements  of  his  delivery  that  his  speech 
becomes  a  failure.  A  speaker's  message  may  seem  to 
have  the  ring  of  truth  and  sincerity  and  yet  his  platform 
conduct  so  belie  his  words  that  his  audience  at  once 
knows  him  to  be  a  vain,  egotistical  man,  one  who  preaches 
what  he  does  not  practice.  Or  again  his  manner  may  be 
so  crude  or  so  distracting  that  whatever  good  qualities 
the  speech  may  possess  are  lost  sight  of  because  of  the 
peculiar  things  that  he  does  upon  the  platform. 

No  safer  guide  can  be  followed  for  all  platform  work 
than  the  simple  rule  : 

Whatever  action  tends  to  aid  the  voice  of  the  speaker 
in  the  expression  of  his  thought  and  feeling  is  good ;  and 
whatever  action  tends  to  hinder  him  in  such  expression 
is  bad,  and  should  be  painstakingly  avoided. 

The  voice,  important  as  it  is  in  all  expression,  is 
hardly  more  important  than  the  other  physical  means  of 
expression,  for  the  body  is  speaking  constantly  in  every 

57 


58  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

movement  as  the  speaker  stands  before  his  audience. 
A  single  change  of  the  facial  muscles  or  a  sweep  of 
the  hand  will  often  convey  a  meaning  deeper  and  more 
subtle  than  could  be  expressed  by  words.  Action  can- 
not be  passed  by  as  unimportant  or  trivial.  It  is  before 
the  eyes  of  the  audience  constantly,  serving  either  as 
a  valuable  aid  or  as  a  decided  hindrance  to  the  speaker 
in  presenting  his  message.  And  he  who  can  so  use  his 
bodily  expression  that  it  becomes  a  valuable  aid  to  his  voice 
is  well  on  his  way  toward  skill  in  the  speaker's  art. 

The  true  foundation  of  action.  Action,  as  most  simply 
defined,  is  mtcscular  response  to  mental  or  emotiofial 
stimuli.  The  student  of  psychology  is  familiar  with  the 
influence  of  the  mind  over  the  body,  with  the  marked 
effect  that  each  mental  or  emotional  stimulus  has  upon 
the  muscular  organisms.  The  inexperienced  speaker  is 
often  astonished  at  the  unexpected  exhilaration  that  he 
feels  as  he  faces  an  audience.  He  finds  that  the  mind 
is  singularly  alert  and  acts  much  more  freely  than  he 
had  expected ;  that  the  blood  flows  faster ;  that  he  has 
a  sense  of  unusual  physical  vigor ;  and  that  there  is  an 
insistent  call  from  the  brain  for  muscular  response  to  the 
lively  activities  of  the  mind.  This  is  the  true  foundation 
for  all  bodily  expression.  Any  voluntary  action  that  is 
not  a  direct  response  to  such  prompting  is  necessarily 
false  and  purely  mechanical. 

To  be  sure,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  action  that  is  not 
the  result  of  voluntary  prompting.  Various  emotions 
such  as  timidity,  fear,  impatience,  or  anger  express  them- 
selves through  the  muscles  involuntarily  in  a  way  no  less 
mistakable  to  an   audience   than   voluntary  action.    But 


ACTION  59 

whether  voluntary  or  involuntary  the  fundamental  cause  is 
the  same  —  the  telegraphic  message  sent  out  to  the 
muscles  from  the  brain. 

The  entire  problem  of  platform  deportment,  therefore, 
resolves  itself  into  two  fundamental  considerations  : 

I.  Is  the  bodily  action  of  the  speaker  the  result  of 
mental  or  emotional  stimuli? 

II.  Does  the  bodily  action  resulting  from  these  stimuli 
look  well  and  contribute  to  the  general  effectiveness  of 
the  speech? 

A  common  misconception  of  high-school  declaimers. 
In  regard  to  the  first  consideration,  it  is  obvious  to  any- 
one who  has  given  careful  attention  to  the  matter  of 
speech  delivery  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  action  that  is 
the  result  of  no  mental  or  emotional  prompting  whatever. 
The  high-school  boy,  in  preparing  for  a  declamatory  con- 
test, says  to  his  teacher,  "  Shall  I  bring  my  hand  down 
so  in  this  place,  and  shall  I  use  this  kind  of  gesture 
here  ? "  He  knows  that  it  is  customary  for  schoolboys  to 
make  some  gestures  when  they  are  to  deliver  a  speech, 
and  he  wants  to  find  a  good  place  to  put  some  in.  The 
teacher,  who  perhaps  does  not  know  good  action  from  poor, 
will  say,  "Yes,  I  think  that  would  look  very  well "  —  with  the 
result  that  the  boy's  earnest  desire  to  make  some  effective 
gestures  to  help  out  his  speech  finds  expression  in  mere 
motions  that  are  wholly  mechanical  and  wooden.  And 
so  far  as  serving  as  an  aid  to  the  expression  of  anything 
that  is  in  his  mind  they  are  useless.  The  attention  of  the 
audience  is  drawn  from  what  the  boy  is  trying  to  say  to 
his  crude  attempts  at  gesture,  and  the  speech  becomes 
less  effective  than  as  if  he  had  attempted  no  gesture  at 


6o  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

all.  But  unfortunately  the  boy  does  not  know  this  and 
goes  on  developing  a  platform  manner  which,  although 
entirely  wrong,  receives  the  admiration  of  fond  parents  and 
perhaps  the  praise  of  his  teachers,  until  he  believes 
himself  to  be  a  skilled  speaker.  In  later  years,  when  he 
comes  to  see  how  much  in  the  wrong  he  has  been,  he  finds 
that  his  speaking  habits  have  become  so  firmly  fixed  that 
he  experiences  the  greatest  difficulty  when  he  attempts 
to  overcome  them. 

Inasmuch  as  this  applies  to  the  bad  habits  of  voice 
that  are  formed  during  the  high-school  period  as  well  as 
to  bad  habits  of  action,  it  gives  strong  emphasis  to  the 
need  for  correct  instruction  in  public  speaking  in  our  high 
schools ;  that  is,  for  instruction  by  competent  teachers, 
who  know  the  difference  between  good  public  speaking 
and  bad  elocution,  and  who  can  teach  boys  and  girls  to 
express  their  ideas  effectively  without  any  of  the  elocu- 
tionary flourishes  that  are  an  abomination  to  anyone  who 
is  attempting  to  learn  how  to  speak.  Far  easier  is  it  to 
make  an  effective  speaker  of  one  who  has  had  neither 
training  nor  experience  of  any  kind  than  to  attempt  to 
retrain  the  boy  who  has  won  a  gold  medal  because  he 
could  rant. 

The  same  fault  true  of  public  speakers.  Likewise 
many  adult  speakers  labor  under  the  misconception  that 
a  great  deal  of  oratorical  display  constitutes  an  effective 
speech.  Their  action  upon  the  platform  is  mere  dumb 
show.  They  gesticulate  wildly  but  to  no  purpose,  and 
the  audience  cannot  refrain  from  asking  why  all  this 
''  sound  and  fury  signifying  nothing  "  ?  Action  that  is  to 
count  for  anything  must  be  the  direct  result  of  psychic 


ACTION  6 1 

activity.  The  schoolboy  who  uses  gestures  that  are  wholly 
mechanical  does  so  usually  without  thinking  what  he 
is  saying,  and  punctuates  his  expression  with  mere 
motiojis,  that  mean  nothing  to  him  and  are  decidedly 
distracting  to  his  hearers.  The  same  is  true  of  all  others 
who  use  extravagant  action  but  express  no  thought.  The 
exhorters  of  some  religious  sects  illustrate  very  well  this 
type  of  speaking.  They  talk  along  aimlessly  by  the  hour, 
not  because  there  is  any  particular  message  to  convey  but 
because  it  is  customary  in  their  organization  to  consume 
a  certain  amount  of  time. 

The  remedy.  There  is  only  one  way  in  which  this 
fault  can  be  overcome  and  that  is  by  going  to  the  very 
root  of  the  difficulty.  It  is  useless  for  the  teacher  to 
attempt  to  overcome  it  by  any  sort  of  mechanical  direc- 
tions or  rules  of  action  however  elaborate.  The  only 
remedy  is  by  stimulating  the  thought  processes.  If  a  boy 
speaks  without  thinking  of  what  he  is  saying,  it  is  of  no 
use  to  tell  him  to  use  his  body  in  one  way  or  another. 
He  must  first  of  all  have  a  mental  awakening.  He  must 
be  made  to  think  intently  upon  what  he  is  trying  to 
express,  to  get  a  firm  grasp  of  his  subject,  and  then  to 
use  no  gesture  or  action  of  any  kind  that  does  not  come 
spontaneously  from  the  mental  impulses  that  call  upon 
his  muscles  for  expression  as  he  tries  to  speak.  Let  him 
get  this  firm  grasp  of  his  subject  and  then,  with  the  aid 
of  a  teacher  who  is  able  to  direct  him  properly  as  to  the 
right  and  wrong  use  of  his  body,  he  need  have  no  fear 
of  his  gestures  being  meaningless.  A  strict  observance 
of  this  single  principle  will  go  far  toward  making  his 
platform  manner  both  pleasing  and  effective. 


62  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  following  anecdote  is  to  the  point :  ^ 

When  Voltaire  was  preparing  a  young  actress  to  appear 
in  one  of  his  tragedies,  he  tied  her  hands  to  her  sides  with 
pack  thread  in  order  to  check  her  tendency  toward  exuber- 
ant gesticulation.  Under  this  condition  of  compulsory  im- 
mobility she  commenced  to  rehearse,  and  for  some  time  she 
bore  herself  calmly  enough ;  but  at  last,  completely  carried 
away  by  her  feelings,  she  burst  her  bonds  and  flung  up 
her  arms.  Alarmed  at  her  supposed  neglect  of  her  instruc- 
tions she  began  to  apologize  to  the  poet ;  he  smilingly 
reassured  her,  however;  the  gesture  was  then  admirable 
because  it  was  irrepressible. 

This  incident  illustrates  very  well  our  problem.  So  long 
as  the  actress  was  conscious  of  deliberately  using  gesture 
her  action  was  undesirable.  But  the  moment  that  there 
was  an  inner  awakening  due  to  the  restraint  that  had  been 
placed  upon  her,  and  her  emotion  began  to  call  upon  the 
muscles  genuinely  for  expression,  Voltaire  was  able  to  pro- 
nounce her  gesture  admirable  because  it  was  irrepressible. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  mechanical  action  is  the  re- 
sult of  effect  improperly  related  to  catcse.  The  first  step, 
then,  must  necessarily  be  the  establishing  of  the  right 
cause  and  of  so  coordinating  mind  and  muscles  that  all 
bodily  action  is  the  direct  result  of  mental  and  emotional 
stimuli. 

The  second  determining  factor.  In  coming  to  our  sec- 
ond consideration,  Does  the  bodily  action  resulting  from 
mental  and  emotional  stimuli  look  well  and  contribute  to 
the  general  effectiveness  of  the  speech }  we  at  once 
face   the   question,   Are   there   any   standards   that   will 

1  Redway,  The  Actor's  Art,  p.  48. 


ACTION  63 

apply  to  all  speakers  by  which  we  are  to  judge  what 
action  does  or  does  not  look  well  upon  the  platform  ? 
This  can  be  answered  only  by  inquiring  into  the  real 
function  of  action  in  speaking.  It  will  be  apparent  upon 
thought  that  the  function  of  all  good  action  is  to  serve 
as  an  aid  in  expression,  not  as  an  end  in  itself.  The 
speaker's  voice  usually  does  a  large  share  of  the  work, 
but  in  some  instances  the  voice  is  not  adequate.  The 
speaker  feels  the  need  of  something  to  assist  the  voice 
in  expressing  his  ideas,  so  he  uses  action.  By  means  of 
the  voice  he  can  give  an  emphatic  stroke  to  a  word  or 
group  of  words,  thus  making  the  idea  that  they  convey 
stand  out  prominently.  But  if  he  feels  that  the  idea  needs 
still  greater  emphasis  than  has  been  given  it  by  the  voice,  he 
adds  to  it  an  emphatic  gesture,  making  it  doubly  effective. 
Yet  this  is  only  one  of  almost  innumerable  uses  for 
which  action  may  be  employed.  Perhaps  the  speaker 
wants  to  describe  some  scene  that  is  full  of  life  and  color 
in  a  way  that  will  enable  his  hearers  to  see  it  vividly  as 
he  himself  sees  it ;  then  action  becomes  an  invaluable 
aid.  Nor  is  action  by  any  means  confined  to  gesture. 
Bodily  movements  without  number  may  have  an  incal- 
culable effect  upon  an  audience.  Suppose  the  speaker 
desires  to  express  a  feeling  of  scorn  or  contempt  that  is 
burning  within  him.  His  words  may  convey  much,  but 
a  single  quick  movement  upon  the  platform,  the  assum- 
ing of  a  haughty  attitude,  or  the  stamp  of  his  foot  may 
send  a  thrill  through  his  audience  that  words  alone  could 
not  express.  So  while  gesture  is  most  desirable  as  an 
aid  to  expression,  it  is  decidedly  objectionable  when  it 
becomes  an  end. 


64  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Action  employed  for  purposes  of  show.  This  was  one 
of  the  notable  faults  of  the  old-time  elocutionist,  who 
aimed  usually  at  making  beautiful,  supergraceful  gestures, 
that  would  attract  attention  rather  than  serve  as  a  simple, 
unaffected  aid  to  the  expression  of  thought.  A  great 
many  showy  speakers  by  their  ''  gesticulating  "  and  ''  atti- 
tudinizing "  seem  to  be  saying  to  their  audience  all  the 
time,  "I  know  how  to  make  fine  gestures;  look  at  them!" 
and  the  result  is  that  the  audience  does  look  at  them  and 
forgets  what  the  speaker  is  trying  to  say. 

The  final  test  of  good  action.  So  in  respect  to  what 
action  does  or  does  not  look  well,  this  may  be  taken  as 
an  infallible  guide  : 

Any  action  that  calls  the  attention  from  what  the 
speaker  is  saying  to  what  the  speaker  is  doing  is  bad 
and  detracts  from  the  general  effectiveness  of  the  speech  ; 
but  any  action  that  calls  attention  not  to  the  speaker 
but  rather  to  his  message  is  good  and  adds  to  the 
effectiveness  of  the  speech.  This  principle  makes  good- 
looking  action  essential  to  the  most  effective  speaking, 
since  crude  gestures  or  ill-looking  action  of  any  kind  is 
always  more  or  less  distracting  and  draws  the  attention 
of  the  audience  away  from  the  speaker's  message.  So 
while  the  first  duty  of  the  teacher  is  to  stimulate  the 
thought  process,  the  psychic  energy,  of  the  pupil  and 
bring  him  to  a  full  realization  of  what  he  is  to  talk  about, 
clearly  the  second  step  is  to  free  the  path  over  which  that 
energy  is  to  travel,  by  teaching  him  how  to  use  action  that 
looks  well  and  aids  him  in  making  his  message  effective. 
And  this  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  that  confronts 
the  teacher,  for  the  most  awkward,  loose-jointed  individual 


ACTION  65 

that  ever  stood  before  an  audience  may  have  as  genuine 
an  impulse  to  gesture  as  the  skilled  speaker  and  yet  may 
be  utterly  unable  to  formulate  that  impulse  into  a  gesture 
that  would  not  bring  a  titter  from  the  audience. 

Should  gesture  be  taught?  The  teaching  of  gesture 
is,  of  course,  a  much-mooted  question  among  teachers  of 
speaking.  Some  maintain  that  gesture  cannot  be  taught ; 
that  the  attempt  to  train  a  student  in  gesture  only  tends 
to  make  his  action  more  awkward  and  mechanical ;  and 
that  if  he  is  left  free  to  gesture  in  the  manner  that  is 
most  natural  to  him,  his  gestures  will  be  likely  to  be 
good  enough  for  all  practical  purposes.  It  has  been 
aptly  said  that  it  would  be  as  reasonable  to  put  the  most 
awkward  country  swain  on  the  dancing  floor  and  tell  him 
to  be  natural  and  just  dance.  To  be  sure  no  book  rules 
can  be  laid  down  that  will  enable  an  inexperienced  teacher 
to  instruct  pupils  how  to  gesture  effectively.  But  there 
is  no  question  but  that  it  can  be  done,  for  under  the 
direction  of  competent  teachers  most  ungainly  pupils  have 
been  taught  to  use  gesture  that  is  pleasing  and  highly 
effective.  The  mistake  is  sometimes  made  of  supposing 
that  the  teacher  of  English,  or  someone  else  who  knows 
nothing  of  the  technic,  can,  by  reading  a  textbook  upon 
the  subject,  give  pupils  the  proper  instruction.  This,  of 
course,  usually  brings  most  unfortunate  results. 

The  value  of  training  in  action.  But  gesture  can  be 
taught  and  shoidd  be  taught  when  it  is  necessary.  Good 
gesture,  as  the  actor  very  well  knows,  is  an  art  and  re- 
quires training  just  as  does  dancing  or  other  similar  arts. 
There  is  no  part  of  the  actor's  training  to  which  he  gives 
more  careful  attention  than  to  his  action.    Indeed,  it  is 


66  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

his  action^  as  much  as  anything  else,  that  makes  the  actor. 
And  while  the  public  speaker  ordinarily  does  not  need  to 
bring  his  action  to  so  high  a  degree  of  perfection  as  does 
the  actor,  still  it  serves  the  same  important  function  for 
him  upon  the  platform  that  it  does  for  the  actor  upon  the 
stage,  and  the  greater  his  skill  in  the  use  of  good  action, 
the  greater  his  effectiveness  in  public  address. 

The  problem,  then,  is  to  teach  the  least  awkward  or  the 
most  awkward  pupils  how  to  gesture  properly  and  to  em- 
ploy platform  deportment  that  is  pleasing  to  the  eye  and 
that  contributes  to  the  success  of  the  speech  instead  of 
calling  forth  comment  from  the  listeners.  This  leads  to 
a  discussion  of  what  should  and  should  not  be  done  while 
facing  an  audience.  There  are  certain  fundamentals  of 
action  which  everyone  who  ever  expects  to  make  speeches 
in  public  should  know.  The  speaker  should  know  how 
to  come  before  an  audience,  how  to  deport  himself  while 
on  the  platform,  and  how  to  take  his  leave  when  he 
has  finished. 

In  this,  as  in  our  first  consideration  of  action,  it  is 
necessary  to  go  back  to  the  thought  processes.  If  the 
speaker  has  a  message  that  he  is  eager  to  convey  to  his 
audience,  his  platform  demeanor  will  tend  to  express  his 
earnestness  of  purpose ;  while  if  he  has  nothing  in  par- 
ticular that  he  desires  to  say  to  them,  the  fact  will  be  likely 
to  manifest  itself.  It  is  important,  therefore,  that  the 
speaker  have  something  to  say  that  is  really  worth  while 
and  that  his  bodily  means  of  expression  be  informed  with 
the  purpose  to  communicate  that  message  effectively. 

In  these  days  people  want  to  hear  a  speaker,  not 
for  the  sake  of  lofty  flights  of  oratory  but  rather  for  the 


ACTION  ej 

ideas  that  he  has.  But  if  he  has  no  ideas,  let  him  hold 
his  tongue.  He  has  no  place  upon  the  public-speaking 
platform.  The  matter,  then,  of  having  something  to  say 
and  an  earnest  desire  to  say  it  is  altogether  important. 
It  influences  the  entire  attitude  of  the  speaker  toward  his 
audience.  But  this  alone  will  not  necessarily  make  his 
action  look  well  and  contribute  to  the  general  effective- 
ness of  the  speech.  If  he  is  stiff,  awkward,  and  ungainly 
and  uses  so-called  ''  pump-handle  "  gestures,  then  it  is 
necessary  that  he  learn  to  speak  with  a  reasonable  degree 
of  grace  and  freedom.  This  is  the  business  of  gesture 
training  and  requires  careful  attention. 

No  doubt  the  single  suggestion  that  the  speaker's 
manner  be  one  of  communication  would,  in  many  cases, 
entirely  suffice,  but  in  a  great  many  others  it  w^ould  not. 
If  the  speaker  has  mannerisms  of  which  he  is  not 
conscious  or  if  he  is  naturally  awkward  or  slovenly  in 
his  mode  of  address,  then  this  suggestion  would  be  quite 
inadequate. 

The  two  essentials  of  training  in  action.  In  order 
to  be  thoroughly  effective  the  speaker  must  cultivate  a 
manner  of  deporting  himself  that,  as  we  have  already 
suggested,  will  not  call  the  attention  of  the  audience 
from  what  he  is  saying  to  what  he  is  doing.  This  neces- 
sitates two  important  essentials  : 

First,  that  he  understand  the  technic  of  action  suffi- 
ciently to  know  what  does  and  what  does  not  look  well 
to  an  audience. 

Second,  that  he  practice  persistently  the  exercises  that 
are  necessary  to  free  him  of  all  awkwardness  and  manner- 
isms and  make  his  personal  address  pleasing. 


68  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

To  set  down  specific  directions  for  the  conduct  of  the 
pubhc  speaker  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to  do,  since  the 
things  that  go  to  make  or  mar  a  speech  are  without  num- 
ber and  are  often  of  such  an  apparently  trifling  nature 
as  to  be  hardly  worth  mentioning.  But  how  often  is  a 
good  speech  ruined  by  a  mere  trifle ! 

Audiences  are  often  greatly  annoyed,  and  sometimes 
to  the  extent  that  they  lose  interest  in  the  speech  alto- 
gether, because  of  some  mannerism  of  which  the  speaker 
is  apparently  entirely  unconscious.  I  have  in  mind  a 
speaker  who  fumbles  with  his  watch  chain  almost  con- 
stantly as  he  speaks.  With  the  exception  of  this  his 
delivery  is  almost  perfect.  But  this  apparently  trifling 
mannerism  becomes,  after  a  time,  so  distracting  that  one 
can  listen  to  him  only  with  difficulty.  Other  speakers 
hold  a  tight  grip  on  the  lapels  of  their  coat,  play  with 
their  finger  rings,  or  adjust  their  spectacles  so  frequently 
that  the  attention  of  the  audience  is  so  much  given  to 
what  they  are  doing  that  it  is  difficult  to  attend  to  what 
they  are  saying.  A  certain  speaker  has  the  habit  always, 
when  he  begins  to  speak,  of  taking  from  his  pocket  a 
carefully  folded  handkerchief  and  shaking  it  out  before 
his  audience.  This  is  perhaps  not  as  objectionable  a  man- 
nerism as  some  others,  but  it  becomes  rather  ludicrous 
when  his  audiences  know  that  they  can  expect  it  as  an 
adjunct  to  every  speech  that  he  gives. 

The  chief  reason  why  these  things  need  special  men- 
tion is  because  they  are  things  of  which  the  speaker  is 
usually  entirely  unconscious.  And  since  the  aim  of  all 
action  is  to  aid  the  speaker  rather  than  to  hinder  him, 
too  careful  attention  cannot  be  given  to  these  things. 


ACTION  69 

The  speaker  should  welcome  criticism  from  others  and 
give  himself  to  careful  self-examination  in  order  to  rid 
himself  of  everything  of  this  nature  that  will  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  effectiveness  of  his  message. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  organizations,  such 
as  college  literary  societies,  that  aim  to  give  training  in 
effective  speaking,  rules  are  often  passed  that  prohibit 
their  speakers  from  wearing  polished  stickpins  or  other 
jewelry  that  will  flash  and  interfere  with  attention  to  the 
speech.  Indeed,  the  merest  trifle  sometimes  becomes  the 
determining  factor  of  a  speech,  and  it  is  here  that  one 
cannot  be  too  painstaking  with  the  small  things  that 
seem  apparently  insignificant. 

The  speaker  should  know  good  platform  manners.  The 
speaker's  manner  of  address  before  his  audience  should 
be  something  as  follows  :  As  he  rises  from  his  seat  upon 
the  platform  he  should  turn  and  face  the  chairman  of  the 
occasion,  addressing  him  with  a  slight  bow  of  the  head 
and  using  the  words,  ''Mr.  Chairman"  or  ''Mr.  President" 
or  such  other  form  of  address  as  may  be  appropriate  to 
the  occasion.  In  case  the  presiding  officer  is  a  woman 
the  proper  form  is,  "  Madam  President."  The  mistake 
is  often  made  of  attempting  to  address  the  chair  while  in 
the  act  of  walking  out  upon  the  platform  or  while  mount- 
ing the  steps  that  lead  to  the  platform.  This  shows  little 
courtesy  to  the  one  presiding  and  should  not  be  done. 
The  correct  mode  of  addressing  the  chair  is  always  while 
standing  erect  with  the  heels  close  together  and  just  as 
the  speaker  rises  from  his  seat  or,  if  he  happens  to  be 
seated  off  the  platform,  just  after  he  mounts  the  steps. 
Speakers  are  often  very  careless  in  this  matter,  sometimes 


70  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

merely  bobbing  the  head  in  the  direction  of  the  chairman 
and  almost  ignoring  him  as  they  walk  towards  the  front 
of  the  platform,  or  even  neglecting  to  address  him  at  all. 
To  do  these  things  looks  boorish  and  awkward.  Under 
no  circumstances  should  the  speaker  neglect  the  for- 
mality of  turning  and  facing  the  presiding  officer  and  in 
a  gentlemanly  manner  addressing  him  with  the  proper 
title.  Sometimes  a  speaker,  instead  of  facing  the  chair- 
man, will  give  a  kind  of  dip  of  the  body  sidewise  in  an 
awkward  fashion  that  is  ungraceful  and  very  noticeable. 
Certainly  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  the  speaker  to 
turn  and  face  the  chairman  squarely  and  address  him  in 
a  manner  that  is  at  once  civil  and  dignified. 

It  should  not  be  supposed  that  the  speaker  needs  to 
use  the  profound  bow  of  the  actor ;  indeed,  such  action, 
while  quite  appropriate  for  the  stage,  would  not  be  in 
place  upon  the  platform.  His  bow  should  be  merely  a 
graceful  inclination  of  the  upper  part  of  the  body,  that 
is  in  harmony  with  the  dignity  of  the  occasion  and  that 
in  no  way  attracts  the  attention  of  the  audience.  The 
ungraceful  bending  of  the  body  forward  from  the  hips, 
while  the  trunk  and  head  remain  stiff,  in  a  kind  of  ''jack- 
knife  "  fashion  is  very  common.  It  is  as  if  the  only 
hinge  of  the  body  were  at  the  hips  and  the  trunk  and 
head  entirely  inflexible.  Such  movement  as  this  has  no 
part  in  good  action  and  should  not  be  used.  It  would  seem 
that  this  is  a  principle  which  a  great  many  speakers,  as  well 
as  some  singers  and  actors,  need  very  much  to  learn. 

As  soon  as  the  speaker  has  been  recognized  by  the 
presiding  officer  he  should  walk  straight  out  before  his 
audience,  not  with  a  happy-go-lucky,  shuffiing,  or  swinging 


ACTION  71 

movement  of  the  body,  but  with  a  straightforward  man- 
ner that  would  indicate  that  he  is  there  for  a  purpose. 
It  is  desirable  that  he  look  directly  toward  his  audience 
as  he  does  this,  rather  than  to  one  side,  as  this  makes 
his  manner  seem  more  personal  and  communicative. 
The  mere  matter  of  coming  before  the  audience  is 
always  of  much  importance.  From  the  speaker's  man- 
ner of  approach  a  judgment  is  formed  that  will  count 
very  much  in  his  favor  if  the  impression  is  a  good  one, 
and  equally  against  him  if  the  impression  is  poor.  I  do 
not  mean  to  suggest  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  speaker 
to  assume  a  bustling  manner  of  approach,  but  that  he 
avoid  the  listless,  lackadaisical  manner  of  one  who  appar- 
ently has  no  very  definite  purpose  with  his  audience  — 
in  other  words,  that  his  manner  of  approach  be  sincere 
and  purposeful. 

And  while  his  manner  should  be  expressive  of  purpose 
and  sincerity,  he  should  carefully  avoid  giving  the  impres- 
sion that  he  is  ill  at  ease  or  fidgety.  Hardly  anything  is 
more  undesirable  than  for  the  speaker  to  come  out  upon 
the  platform  with  hurried  strides  and  begin  speaking  with 
nervous  twitchings  of  the  body.  Nervousness  on  the  part 
of  the  speaker  engenders  a  similar  feeling  in  the  audi- 
ence ;  while  the  speaker  who  appears  perfectly  calm  as 
he  steps  out  before  his  audience  usually  has  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  he  is  to  have  the  rapt  attention 
of  his  hearers  from  the  beginning.  This  is,  of  course, 
far  easier  to  say  than  to  do,  for  how  is  the  speaker  to 
appear  calm  when  he  is  already  quaking  in  his  shoes  .-* 
The  important  thing  is  to  exercise  such  self-control  that 
to  all  outward  appearances  he  seems  quite  composed. 


;2  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  importance  of  exercising  the  wilL  Many  speakers 
who  suffer  a  veritable  turmoil  within  appear  to  be  per- 
fectly calm  so  far  as  anyone  can  tell.  This  requires 
complete  self-mastery  —  the  absolute  dominion  of  the 
will  over  the  body.  It  is  one  of  the  first  and  most  diffi- 
cult undertakings  of  the  beginner.  He  cannot  hope  to 
accomplish  it  the  first  time  that  he  speaks  nor  the  second. 
Every  speaker  has  to  pass  through  the  ''  knee-shaking 
period  "  of  public  speaking,  when  he  hardly  knows  his 
own  name,  to  say  nothing  of  attempting  to  express  him- 
self upon  his  feet.  All  this,  however,  gives  way  gradually 
but  surely  to  persistent  practice  of  the  right  kind. 

It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  exert  every  ounce  of  will 
power  during  the  first  moments  of  delivery.  In  doing 
this  the  speaker  should  employ  every  possible  resource 
at  his  command  to  make  himself  master  of  the  situation. 
First  of  all  he  should  take  a  commanding  position. 
No  one  has  respect  for  the  speaker  who  stands  with  fiat 
chest,  drooping  head,  and  a  general  appearance  that  is 
slouchy.  He  should  stand  7ip  with  the  mental  attitude  of 
one  who  respects  himself  and  expects  others  to  do  the 
same.  A  stiff  backbone  engenders  a  certain  feeling  of 
moral  strength  that  exerts  a  remarkable  influence  upon 
the  audience. 

The  speaker* s  position.  It  is  essential,  then,  that  the 
speaker  stand  in  a  substantially  erect  position.  This  will 
mean  that  he  must  stand  on  both  his  legs,  and  not  on 
one  as  the  beginning  speaker  is  almost  always  inclined  to 
do  ;  that  he  must  rest  his  weight  on  his  feet,  and  not 
on  one  hip  or  the  other;  and  that  his  body  must  not 
appear  angular,  with  the  head  thrown  in  one  direction,  the 


ACTION  73 

trunk  in  another,  and  the  legs  in  still  another.  The  body 
should  be  erect  and  vertical,  and  the  position  one  both 
of  strength  and  of  freedom.  This  is  not  easy  for  the 
beginner  to  do,  for  in  his  attempt  to  acquire  a  position 
that  has  the  appearance  of  strength  and  command  he 
is  likely  to  stand  like  a  statue.  This  he  must  not  do. 
He  must  add  to  his  feeling  of  strength  a  feeling  of 
ease,  so  that  he  will  look  and  feel  comfortable  before 
his  audience. 

After  the  body  has  become  reasonably  erect  so  that 
there  is  no  angularity  or  slumping,  the  next  essential  is 
a  high  chest.  The  chest  should  not  be  unduly  thrust  out 
in  a  way  that  will  make  others  think  of  the  speaker  as 
"  chesty,"  but  should  be  held  sufficiently  high  for  the 
lungs  to  have  free  play  and  for  the  speaker  to  gain  a 
feeling  of  self-confidence  and  strength.  Then  the  lower 
part  of  the  trunk  at  the  waist  line  should  be  held  in  ; 
never  protruded  after  the  manner  of  slovenly  speakers. 
The  lower  trunk,  thus  drawn  in,  aids  considerably  in 
giving  freedom  to  the  upper  chest ;  while,  if  protruded, 
it  invariably  draws  the  chest  down.  The  head  should  be 
held  erect  with  the  eyes  directed  toward  the  audience. 
The  speaker  with  drooping  head  is  rarely  ever  effective. 

Luther  Gulick,i  an  eminent  teacher  of  physical  culture, 
suggests  that  one  simple  exercise  will  accomplish  all  three 
things  :  erectness  of  the  head,  the  high  chest,  and  the 
receding  lower  trunk.  This  exercise  is  merely  to  hold 
the  back  of  the  neck  firmly  against  the  collar.  This  is 
an  excellent  suggestion  and  one  that  is  of  much  value  if 
the  speaker  is  careful  to  avoid  stiffness  and  rigidity  of  the 

1  Gulick,  The  Efficient  Life,  p.  40. 


74  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

muscles.  It  is  one,  however,  that  must  be  kept  in  mind 
and  practiced  constantly.  If  he  thinks  of  it  only  while 
speaking  and  neglects  it  at  all  other  times  it  will  never 
help  him  to  gain  a  pleasing  carriage. 

With  the  chest  high,  the  lower  trunk  held  in,  and  the 
head  erect,  there  remains  only  the  matter  of  proper  poise. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  weight  of  the  body  should 
not  be  thrown  all  on  one  side  or  all  back  upon  one  heel 
so  that  the  body  has  a  sagging  appearance.  Nor  should 
the  speaker  stand  with  his  heels  drawn  closely  together 
in  a  military  fashion.  Neither  should  he  stand  with  his 
feet  parallel,  nor  wide  apart,  nor  with  one  heel  drawn 
closely  in  toward  the  instep  of  the  other  foot.  All  of 
these  things  destroy  the  proper  poise  of  the  body  and 
give  the  speaker  an  ungainly  appearance. 

A  very  good  speaking  position  is  one  in  which  the 
feet  are  not  unduly  close  together  nor  yet  wide  apart, 
but  at  a  distance  that  will  support  the  body  naturally 
and  allow  the  speaker  to  move  about  the  platform  freely. 
A  position  that  always  looks  well  and  one  that  is  usually 
most  comfortable  for  the  speaker  is  with  one  foot  slightly 
in  advance  of  the  other,  the  toes  turned  outward,  and 
the  body  in  good  poise  and  well  supported.  The  weight 
may  rest  at  times  more  upon  one  foot  than  upon  the 
other,  but  speakers  who  have  good  poise  usually  have 
it  about  evenly  distributed  between  both  feet. 

Poise  the  essential  thing.  The  habit  of  throwing  the 
weight  back  entirely  upon  the  heels  should  be  avoided 
by  beginners,  since  it  gives  bad  poise  to  the  body.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  definitely 
prescribed  position  for  the  public  speaker.    A  tall,  lean 


ACTION  75 

man  may  very  properly  assume  a  speaking  position  that 
harmonizes  with  the  length  of  his  legs — one  considerably 
different  from  that  suited  to  a  short,  fat  man.  The  im- 
portant thing  is  not  position  but  poise.  If  the  speaker's 
poise  is  good,  his  position  will  take  care  of  itself. 

With  the  confident  feeling  that  his  position  is  one  of 
strength,  he  should  be  very  careful  to  avoid  any  appear- 
ance of  discomfort.  If  he  has  a  position  that  he  knows 
to  be  good  and  yet  one  in  which  he  feels  uncomfortable, 
his  audience  will  be  very  likely  to  feel  the  same  way 
about  it.  Never  should  the  speaker  come  out  upon  the 
platform  and  deliberately  take  a  position ;  that  is,  set 
his  feet  down  as  though  all  had  been  carefully  measured 
out  beforehand  and  he  must  get  his  feet  at  just  the 
right  angle.  As  already  suggested,  he  should  walk  out 
toward  his  audience  in  a  natural  manner  and  then  merely 
stop  in  a  good  speaking  position.  This  is  the  natural 
thing  to  do,  and  the  audience  thinks  nothing  about  it. 
But  if  there  is  a  conscious  adjusting  of  the  feet  it  often 
becomes  ridiculous.  Of  course,  if  he  has  been  in  the 
habit  of  standing  in  awkward  positions  he  will  not  be 
able  to  do  this  naturally ;  but  by  a  little  practice  with  posi- 
tions that  are  uncomfortable  and  without  poise  and  then 
with  those  that  have  good  poise,  he  will  very  soon  be 
able  to  assume  a  natural  speaker's  position  without  ever 
stopping  to  adjust  himself  or  even  to  think  how  it  is 
done.  Above  all,  he  should  cultivate  the  feeling  of  being 
comfortable  and  appearing  perfectly  at  home  on  the  plat- 
form. This  goes  a  long  way  toward  creating  a  favorable 
impression.  It  induces  a  similar  feeling  in  the  audience 
•and  opens  the  way  for  the  speaker. 


J6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

The  importance  of  a  good  start.  The  opening  moments 
of  the  speech  are  of  great  importance.  Rarely  does  the 
speaker  launch  into  his  subject  instantly.  If  he  rises  for 
a  very  informal  discussion  he  may  do  so,  but  in  more 
formal  address  there  is  usually  a  very  important  moment 
of  suspense,  when  the  speaker  fixes  his  eyes  upon  the 
faces  before  him  and  pauses  five  or  ten  seconds,  or  even 
longer  (depending  upon  the  occasion),  before  beginning 
his  speech.  This  often  has  a  magnetic  effect.  Every  eye 
is  fixed  upon  him  and  all  wait  eagerly  for  his  opening 
word.  It  is  also  the  quickest  way  to  quiet  an  audience. 
If  there  is  whispering,  moving  of  chairs,  swinging  of 
doors,  and  the  like,  all  this  tends  to  subside  when  the 
speaker  stands  and  pauses  before  his  audience.  The  wise 
speaker  will  never  attempt  to  begin  his  speech  while 
people  are  being  seated  or  while  there  is  noise  or  move- 
ment in  the  room.  It  is  always  better  to  wait  for  several 
minutes,  if  necessary,  than  to  attempt  to  begin  in  the 
midst  of  confusion. 

The  pause  before  the  opening  of  the  speech  is  also 
one  of  the  most  valuable  aids  to  the  speaker  in  getting 
control  of  himself  and  in  gaining  confidence.  If  he  is 
able  to  fix  his  eyes  upon  his  audience  and  look  calmly 
into  their  faces  for  five  or  ten  seconds,  he  need  have 
little  fear  of  what  will  happen  when  he  begins  to  speak. 
This  composure  and  self-possession  at  the  beginning  are 
of  great  importance.  If  the  speaker  at  that  instant  finds 
his  legs  threatening  to  give  way  under  him  and  his  heart 
thumping  hard,  the  sheer  exercise  of  his  will  and  the 
holding  of  his  eyes  firmly  upon  the  faces  before  him  will 
help  wonderfully  in  winning  the  battle.    A  deep  breath 


ACTION  'jy 

is  alsQ  employed  by  many  speakers  to  aid  in  gaining  the 
desired  control.  This  is  of  great  service,  inasmuch  as 
it  gives  an  abundant  supply  of  breath  for  the  opening 
words.  It  also  enables  the  speaker  to  get  control  of  his 
diaphragm,  so  that  his  tones  are  evenly  supported  and 
there  is  not  that  wavering  of  the  voice  that  accompanies 
stage  fright. 

The  will  to  do.  But  probably  nothing  is  so  important 
as  getting  rid  of  the  "  I  can't "  feeling  and  going  on  the 
platform  with  the  grim  determination,  ''  I  will  if  it  kills 
jne."  Many  a  beginner,  who  felt  sure  before  he  went 
upon  the  platform  that  he  would  sink  through  the  floor, 
has  been  surprised  at  the  self-possession  and  composure 
that  he  has  experienced,  merely  because  he  went  about 
it  with  the  do-or-die  frame  of"  mind.  There  is  only  one 
way  in  which  to  become  an  effective  speaker ;  that  is, 
by  speaking.  And  the  mental  attitude  with  which  one 
goes  about  it  is  a  tremendous  influence  toward  success 
or  failure. 

After  the  beginner  has  gained  in  his  practice  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  strength  and  self-possession,  his  attention 
should  be  turned  to  the  matter  of  general  freedom  of 
action.  The  speaker's  ideal  should  be  always  to  gain 
a  position  that  is  expressive  of  freedom  as  of  strength. 
He  should  appear  to  be  perfectly  free  to  move  about  the 
platform  in  a  manner  that  will  not  call  attention  to  how 
it  is  done.  He  should  have  a  kind  of  ''at  home  "  air, 
not  as  if  he  were  out  of  his  natural  sphere  and  trying 
all  the  time  to  adjust  himself  to  his  new  environment, 
but  as  if  it  were  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  for 
him  to  be  speaking  then  and  there  to  that  particular 


78  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

group  of  people.  This  is  the  ideal  of  platform  deport- 
ment that  naturally  takes  time  and  experience  to  gain. 
Yet  it  is  an  ideal  of  action  that  many  speakers  never 
attain,  because,  either  through  ignorance  of  correct  prin- 
ciples or  through  carelessness  in  the  use  of  them,  they 
are  continually  doing  things  that  are  more  or  less  dis- 
tracting and  draw  attention  away  from  the  message. 

Problems  of  action  later  in  the  speech.  The  problems 
of  action  after  the  speaker  once  launches  into  his  dis- 
course are  without  number.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
enumerate  the  faults  that  appear  in  different  speakers 
and  detract  from  the  general  effectiveness  of  the  speech. 
Here  the  principle  already  laid  down  is  the  only  reliable 
guide :  Whatever  action  draws  the  attention  of  the 
aiidiefice  away  front  the  'speaker' s  message  is  bad,  aiid 
should  be  avoided. 

The  use  of  the  hands.  The  first  thing  that  the  begin- 
ner usually  does  is  to  try  to  dispose  of  his  hands.  If  he 
is  embarrassed  he  tries  to  make  himself  comfortable  by 
stuffing  his  hands  into  his  pockets,  by  drawing  his  arms 
closely  behind  his  back,  or  by  grasping  tightly  a  manu- 
script or  other  article.  This  may  tend  to  relieve  the 
speaker's  embarrassment  somewhat,  but  it  does  not  re- 
lieve his  bodily  tension.  On  the  contrary,  it  tends  rather 
to  increase  it.  He  comes  to  rely  upon  some  means  of 
this  kind  with  which  to  dispose  of  his  hands,  and  he 
never  feels  just  right  unless  his  arms  are  folded  behind 
his  back,  stuffed  into  his  pockets,  or  employed  in  finger- 
ing his  clothing,  his  manuscript,  or  the  like.  Action  of 
this  kind  is  never  pleasing  and  is  always  indicative  of 
lack  of  mental  poise  and  physical  self-control. 


ACTION  79 

The  value  of  freedom.  From  the  first  the  speaker 
should  attempt  to  cultivate  freedom  in  the  use  of  the 
hands  and  arms.  The  habit  of  letting  the  arms  fall  freely 
at  the  side  is  very  important.  It  always  looks  well,  it  does 
not  attract  attention,  and  it  leaves  the  speaker  free  to  em- 
ploy gesture  in  a  natural  manner  when  the  impulse  comes. 
But  often  after  the  speaker  is  able  to  let  his  arms  fall 
at  his  side,  his  embarrassment  or  nervousness  continues 
to  manifest  itself  by  twitching  movements  of  the  hands, 
or  by  the  thumbs  securely  folded  within  the  palms  and 
the  hands  tightly  clenched.  This  is  something  of  which 
the  speaker  is  usually  unconscious,  and  is  always  an  un- 
mistakable evidence  to  the  audience  of  his  lack  of  self- 
control.  Persistent  practice  in  the  use  of  a  few  exercises 
for  general  freedom  of  the  muscles  of  the  shoulders, 
arms,  and  hands,  together  with  attention  to  the  matter 
for  a  few  times,  will  give  the  speaker  perfect  control 
of  arms  and  hands.  It  is  a  matter  that  needs  attention 
from  the  first,  for  the  fault  easily  fixes  itself  as  a  habit. 
Untrained  speakers  acquire  habits  of  this  kind  which, 
though  apparently  insignificant  in  themselves,  stay  with 
them  through  life  and  constantly  annoy  those  who  have 
to  listen  to  them. 

The  speaker  must  learn  to  stand  still.  Another  fault 
that  is  quite  as  common  as  working  or  gripping  the  hands 
is  that  of  the  speaker  who  never  stands  still.  He  may 
perhaps  stand  erect  enough  and  have  a  good  position 
for  speaking,  but  he  never  stands  still.  He  is  constantly 
moving,  turning,  swaying,  or  shifting.  The  nervous  twitch- 
ing of  the  hands  is  bad,  but  this  fault  is  worse,  inasmuch 
as  it  involves  the  entire  body.    After  listening  to  such  a 


8o  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

speaker  for  ten  minutes,  the  one  thought  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  the  audience  is  not  what  he  is  talking  about 
but,  ''  If- he  would  only  stand  still !  "  This  is  probably  one 
of  the  worst  things  in  the  way  of  action  that  the  speaker 
can  do.  He  may  walk  about  the  platform  as  much  as  he 
chooses,  but  when  he  is  in  a  speaking  position  let  him 
stand  still. 

The  most  common  faults  of  this  kind  seem  to  be 
shifting,  swaying,  and  turning  movements.  The  speaker 
whose  fault  is  that  of  shifting  throws  his  weight  on  one 
foot  and  then  on  the  other  with  more  or  less  regularity 
until  the  body  is  moving  almost  constantly.  Or  this  fault 
sometimes  takes  the  form  of  a  teetering  movement,  first 
on  one  leg,  then  on  the  other.  The  habit  of  swaying  is 
not  a  mere  shifting  of  weight  in  which  legs  and  hips  are 
chiefly  involved,  but  a  swaying  back  and  forth  of  the 
body  in  its  entire  length  from  head  to  foot.  In  the  turn- 
ing movements  the  body  usually  appears  to  be  on  a  pivot 
just  above  the  hips,  and  the  trunk  is  constantly  twisted 
one  way  and  the  other.  Sometimes  the  turning  takes  the 
form  of  a  most  awkward  pivoting  of  one  foot  on  the  heel, 
the  leg  being  relaxed  ;  and  sometimes  it  is  the  heel  that 
moves  from  side  to  side  with  almost  mechanical  regularity. 

Like  the  action  of  the  hands,  these  are  almost  always 
movements  that  are  entirely  unconscious,  and  for  that 
reason  something  that  the  student  should  be  guarding 
against  constantly.  They  are  things,  of  course,  that  he 
cannot  learn  to  avoid  apart  from  actual  speaking.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  learn  them  by  book  rule.  It  must  be 
done  while  speaking,  with  the  aid  of  criticisms  from  the 
instructor  and  suggestions  from  the  student  with  whom 


ACTION  8 1 

he  practices.  He  must  not  be  discouraged  if  he  does  not 
free  himself  from  all  of  these  things  during  the  first  few 
recitations.  It  usually  takes  many  recitations  to  get  rid 
of  even  the  most  noticeable  of  them.  The  aim  should 
be  to  give  him  an  opportunity  to  go  to  the  platform 
every  recitation  if  possible.  Nothing  will  bring*  results 
so  quickly  as  this.  He  should  welcome  every  opportunity 
that  gives  him  a  chance  to  free  his  action  and  polish  his 
speaking,  even  though  it  be  at  the  expense  of  those  who 
have  to  listen  to  him.  He  cannot  fail  if  he  takes  the 
attitude  of  Charles  James  Fox,  the  great  English  debater, 
who  said,  "  During  five  whole  sessions  in  Parliament  I 
spoke  every  night  but  one,  and  I  regret  that  I  did  not 
speak  that  night  too." 

The  speaker  should  know  how  to  get  about  the  plat- 
form. After  the  student  has  had  sufficient  practice  in 
the  actual  doing  of  these  things  to  enable  him  to  hold 
himself  properly  without  slumping,  twitching,  swaying, 
or  turning,  he  should  then  give  his  attention  to  the 
matter  of  general  movement  about  the  platform.  He  has 
gone  a  long  way  toward  making  his  appearance  good 
when  he  can  stand  up  in  a  manner  that  is  commanding, 
hold  himself  properly,  and  think  on  his  feet.  But  one 
position,  although  strong,  requires  change  of  some  kind. 
Rarely  does  a  person  hold  one  position  during  an  entire 
speech.  The  speaker  has  a  natural  impulse  to  move 
about  in  some  fashion.  The  important  thing  is  that  he 
do  this  in  a  manner  that  is  free  and  pleasing  rather  than 
stiff,  awkward,  or  crude.  The  fact  is  that  these  movements 
are  often  so  bad  that  they  are  more  noticeable  than  the 
things  he  does  while  standing  still.    Many  a  debater  has 


82  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

been  severely  censured  or  even  demerited  by  a  board  of 
judges  because  he  walked  across  the  front  of  the  plat- 
form, crossing  one  leg  over  the  other  in  a  manner  which 
showed  that  he  did  not  understand  the  first  principle  of 
deporting  himself  properly  before  an  audience. 

Important  don'ts.  The  things  that  the  speaker  should 
do  while  moving  about  can  best  be  understood  by  know- 
ing what  he  should  not  do ;  and  the  donts  here  are  too 
numerous  to  permit  of  detail.  Obviously  he  should  avoid 
such  movements  as  those  just  mentioned,  where  the  wrong 
leg  seems  to  be  always  in  the  way,  the  one  crossing  in 
front  of  the  other.  Likewise,  he  should  avoid  changing 
his  position  by  hitching  or  side-stepping  from  place  to 
place.  He  should  avoid  pacing  the  platform  like  a  caged 
animal.  In  short,  he  should  avoid  regular  movements  of 
any  kind  that  bring  the  audience  to  expect  the  same  thing 
to  recur  with  a  certain  degree  of  regularity  throughout  the 
speech.  The  principle  of  the  economy  of  attention  is  the 
law  that  should  guide.  And,  as  in  all  other  action,  any 
movement  that  is  of  a  nature  to  call  attention  to  itself 
violates  this  law  and  must  be  strictly  avoided.  This  makes 
freedom  of  movement  and  a  reasonable  degree  of  grace 
essential.  If  the  speaker  stands  in  a  fairly  good-looking 
position  but  cannot  move  about  without  appearing  wooden, 
he  has  much  to  learn  in  the  way  of  platform  deportment. 

The  essential  principle  of  platform  movement.  One 
principle,  if  properly  used,  will  do  more  than  anything 
else  to  give  the  desired  freedom.  That  is  the  principle 
of  zvalking  movements.  If  the  speaker  stands  in  one 
place  and  has  the  impulse  to  move  to  another  place  on 
the  platform,  the  one  way  in  which  he  can  do  it  without 


ACTION  83 

attracting  any  attention  is  by  natural  walking  steps,  having 
the  right  foot  free  to  lead  if  he  is  to  advance  toward  the 
right,  and  the  left  foot  free  if  his  movement  is  toward 
the  left.  This  enables  him  to  move  freely  in  any  direction 
that  he  desires.  He  can  advance  toward  his  audience  or 
retire  from  them  with  perfect  ease,  and  no  one  will  ever 
stop  to  think  how  it  is  done. 

The  only  thing  that  he  needs  to  remember  besides 
walking  movements  is  good  poise.  In  moving  about,  care 
should  be  taken  not  to  lose  the  balance  and  tip  the  body 
awkwardly  one  way  or  the  other.  Beginners  have  much 
trouble  with  this,  especially  when  stepping  backward  or 
toward  the  side.  If  good  poise  is  practiced  until  he  has 
control  of  his  weight,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  moving 
backward  or  in  any  other  direction  with  ease.  Good- 
looking  action  of  this  kind  is  highly  desirable  and  can 
be  acquired  in  a  very  short  time  by  giving  attention  to 
the  two  principles,  (i)  walking  movements,  (2)  proper 
poise. 

When  to  move  on  the  platform.  There  remains  one 
further  point — when  to  move  on  the  platform.  This 
seems  to  be  more  or  less  puzzling  to  the  beginner.  He 
knows  how  it  should  be  done,  but  how  is  he  to  know 
when  it  should  be  done  ?  The  answer  is  simple.  Let  him 
rely  upon  the  same  principle  as  in  all  other  action  :  Follozv 
the  impidse  that  prompts.  Sometimes  speakers  will  delib- 
erately pause  and  during  the  silence  that  follows  take 
several  steps,  as  though  saying  to  the  audience,  "  I  am 
making  this  movement  here."  Clearly  such  action  vio- 
lates the  economy  of  attention.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
question  of  when  to  move,  which  seems  to  appear  so 


84  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

important  to  many  beginners,  really  needs  little  if  any 
attention.  Every  speaker  is  likely  to  have  natural  impulses 
to  change  his  position,  and  the^e  impulses  usually  come  at 
the  transitions  in  the  thought,  as  where  the  debater  might 
say,  ''  Now  let  us  turn  to  the  second  phase  of  our  argu- 
ment." This  mental  transition  tends  very  naturally  to 
stimulate  muscular  transition  and  the  body  moves  almost 
unconsciously.  This  does  not  imply  that  the  speaker 
changes  his  position  only  at  the  points  of  transition  in  the 
thought.  There  may  be  calls  from  the  brain  for  move- 
ment at  many  other  places,  but  these  are  the  points  in 
the  speech  when  the  promptings  come  most  naturally. 
Some  speakers  are  changing  positions  constantly  without 
any  call  for  it.  This  is  always  annoying.  Others  move  as 
though  carrying  out  some  preconceived  scheme  of  action. 
This  is  quite  as  disconcerting.  The  speaker  will  make  no 
mistake  if  he  relies  always  upon  the  genuine  impulses 
that  are  generated  by  the  thought,  and  moves  freely  in 
accordance  with  them.  Indeed,  the  whole  problem  of 
platform  deportment  may  be  reduced  to  a  single  principle 
—  proper  coordination  of  mind  and  body. 

Note.    For  practical  exercises  in  action  see  end  of  Chapter  IV. 


CHAPTER  IV 
GESTURE 

In  coming  to  the  consideration  of  gesture  in  the  sense 
in  which  this  term  is  commonly  used,  —  that  of  specific 
actions  of  the  arms  and  hands,  —  there  is  Httle  that  can 
be  said  except  in  the  way  of  helpful  suggestion.  An 
attempt  is  frequently  made,  by  classifying  all  gestures  as 
supine,  prone,  index,  etc.,  and  by  dividing  the  body  into 
so-called  zones  or  spheres,  to  furnish  the  learner  with  a 
system  of  thumb  rules  that  are  supposed  to  enable  him 
to  employ  gesture  effectively  at  all  times.  It  is  my  belief 
that  no  system  of  rules  can  be  presented  in  print  that 
will  successfully  accomplish  this  end. 

Some  writers  even  go  so  far  as  to  tabulate  various 
forms  and  positions  of  the  hands,  and  to  designate  those 
that  they  consider  appropriate  for  the  expression  of  any 
given  idea.  Thus  we  find  such  directions  as :  "Is  it 
that  insidious  smile  with  which   our  petition   has  been 

m-o-s 
lately  received .?    Trust  it  not,  sir ;  it  will  prove  a  snare 

m-f-v 
to  your  feet."  Here  the  symbols  m-o-s y  according  to 
their  tabulation,  mean  "middle-oblique-supine,"  and  m-f-v y 
"  middle-front-vertical."  The  assumption  seems  to  be  that 
by  learning  the  key  and  giving  the  passages  as  directed 
one  will  become  proficient  in  the  use  of  gesture.    Nothing 

85 


86  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

could  be  more  mechanicaL  It  violates  the  primary  es- 
sential of  good  action  —  the  impulse  to  express.  Thus 
we  find  long  passages  set  down  and  marked  with  spe- 
cific directions,  which  the  student  is  supposed  to  follow 
automaton-like  in  order  to  acquire  skill  in  the  use  of 
gesture. 

Such  directions  are  detrimental,  inasmuch  as  they 
assume  that  all  speakers  will  have  the  impulse  to  ex- 
press ideas  in  exactly  the  same  way  and,  moreover,  that 
the  following  of  purely  mechanical  suggestions  will  teach 
one  to  employ  gesture  well.  As  was  suggested  early  in 
this  chapter,  any  conscious  attempt  by  a  beginner  to 
employ  gesture  of  a  certain  form  on  a  specified  word 
or  group  of  words  is  almost  certain  to  be  artificial  and 
wooden. 

I  shall  not  attempt,  therefore,  to  set  down  rules  to 
instruct  pupils  how  to  gesture.  I  am  convinced  that  such 
instruction  can  never  be  given  through  the  medium  of 
cold  type.  It  must  always  come  from  an  experienced 
teacher,  who  knows  good  gesture  and  is  able  to  give  the 
right  kind  of  instruction  in  its  use.  The  suggestions  that 
follow  are  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  setting  the  learner 
right  in  regard  to  some  of  the  more  important  problems 
of  gesture  in  which  every  public  speaker  is  interested. 

What  to  avoid  in  learning  to  gesture.  The  matter  of 
how  to  make  effective  gestures  by  means  of  the  hands 
and  arms,  like  most  other  problems  of  action,  can  best 
be  understood  by  knowing  what  not  to  do.  My  experience 
with  college  students  has  been  that  most  of  them  are 
eager  to  learn  how  to  employ  gestures  effectively  in  their 
speaking.    This  desire  is  not  always  apparent  at  first,  but 


GESTURE  87 

as  soon  as  the  preliminary  steps  of  learning  how  to  think 
and  to  express  themselves  on  their  feet  have  been  fairly 
mastered,  the  question  almost  invariably  comes,  ''  Don't 
you  think  I  ought  to  use  a  gesture  in  this  sentence  ? " 
or  "  What  kind  of  a  gesture  would  be  appropriate  to  use 
in  this  place  ?  "  The  desire  to  employ  gesture  of  some 
kind  is  apparent,  but  the  idea  in  almost  every  instance 
seems  to  be  that  the  gesture  is  something  that  must  be 
carefully  determined  upon  beforehand  and  fitted  in  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  teacher.  To  most  students  it  never 
occurs  that  by  freeing  the  avenues  of  expression  and  by 
merely  *' letting  themselves  go,"  the  right  gesture  is  almost 
sure  to  come  spontaneously.  Neither  do  they  stop  to 
consider  that  the  worst  thing  they  can  do  is  to  make 
a  conscious  attempt  to  execute  a  certain  kind  of  gesture 
in  a  certain  place.  It  is  this  consciousness  of  the  act 
that,  more  than  anything  else,  tends  to  make  the  gesture 
just  what  it  ought  not  to  be. 

Let  the  student  in  the  beginning  of  his  training  in 
gesture  get  as  far  away  as  possible  from  the  idea  that 
gestures  are  something  that  must  be  carefully  planned 
and  executed.  So  long  as  gestures  are  made  with  this 
thought  in  mind,  there  will  be  rigid  muscles  and  the 
attendant  angularity  of  movement  that  characterize  most 
of  the  ill-looking  gestures  of  beginners.  It  is  the  act 
,  performed  spontaneously,  rather  than  with  conscious  effort, 
that  constitutes  genuinely  effective  gesture. 

What  to  seek  in  learning  to  gesture.  The  pupil  is 
often  told  that  the  thing  most  needed  in  acquiring  the 
ability  to  gesture  well  is  relaxation.  I  purposely  avoid 
the  use   of   the  term   in   this   connection,   as   to   many 


88  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

students  it  connotes  a  certain  limpness,  which  is  not  at 
all  the  thing  to  be  desired.  No  one  admires  the  person 
whose  handshake  has  the  limpness  of  the  proverbial  dish- 
rag  ;  neither  does  anyone  like  to  see  gesture  that  is  of 
the  same  kind.  What  is  to  be  desired  is  a  suppleness 
of  muscles  that  will  render  the  speaker  free  to  make 
gestures  that  have  no  element  of  rigidity  or  angularity 
and  that  are  sufficiently  graceful  not  to  attract  attention. 

The  problem  is  not  unlike  that  of  one  who  attempts 
to  learn  the  art  of  dancing.  So  long  as  the  muscles  are 
tense,  so  that  there  is  no  freedom  of  the  body  and  limbs, 
there  will  be  angularity  and  awkwardness.  But  as  soon 
as  the  learner  gains  a  sense  of  being  able  to  give  him- 
self to  the  rhythm  of  the  music,  these  things  tend  to 
disappear,  and  he  becomes  able  to  perform  the  act  with 
ease  and  grace.  The  same  is  true  of  the  art  of  gesture. 
As  long  as  there  is  a  conscious  attempt  at  gesture,  the 
muscles  are  almost  sure  to  remain  rigid.  But  when  the 
speaker  reaches  the  point  where  his  hands  and  arms 
become  more  or  less  passive  agents  that  act  only  when 
prompted  by  impulse,  rather  than  very  active  and  dynamic 
agents  of  expression,  then  rigidity  is  readily  overcome 
and  the  employment  of  effective  gesture  becomes  easy. 

The  prime  essential  of  gesture  training,  therefore,  is 
to  lose  all  thought  of  the  act  of  gesture  as  a  difficult 
undertaking  to  be  laboriously  pursued,  and  to  think  of 
nothing  but  how  to  render  the  bodily  agents  free  to  act 
whenever  impulses  induced  by  thought  or  feeling  call 
upon  them  to  do  so.  This  condition,  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, can  be  acquired  by  a  simple  system  of  calis- 
thenics that  will  give  the  body  the  desired  freedom  and 


GESTURE  89 

responsiveness.  The  exercises  suggested  at  the  close  of 
this  chapter  will  be  found  adequate  for  the  average 
student.  In  exceptional  cases  the  teacher  may  find  it 
desirable  to  supplement  these  with  further  exercises. 

Logical  cultivation  of  gesture.  The  query  arises  as 
to  whether  the  student,  after  having  practiced  exercises 
to  free  the  avenues  of  muscular  expression,  will  express 
himself  with  the  right  kind  of  gestures  without  special 
training  in  so-called  modes,  or  forms,  of  gesture.  This 
can  be  determined  by  the  use  of  a  simple  experiment 
such  as  I  have  tried  many  times  in  my  own  classes. 
Let  the  teacher  give  the  class  a  sentence  containing 
an  important  idea,  which  all  are  to  express.  Let  it  be 
suggested  that,  if  they  feel  they  can  express  the  idea 
more  clearly  or  more  emphatically  with  the  aid  of  ges- 
ture, they  employ  whatever  gesture  seems  to  them  most 
appropriate.    The  result  will  prove  most  interesting. 

In  trying  this  experiment  I  have  always  taken  pains 
to  suggest  that  no  student  need  attempt  a  gesture  unless 
he  have  the  impulse  to  use  one,  and  that  if  he  does  have 
such  an  impulse,  it  is  to  express  itself  in  whatever  form 
of  gesture  seems  most  naturally  suited  to  the  expression 
of  that  particular  idea.  It  has  been  interesting  to  find 
that  in  most  instances  every  student  has  the  impulse  to 
make  a  gesture  of  some  kind,  and  that  almost  invariably 
the  majority  of  the  class  use  the  same  form  of  gesture. 

One  needs  no  better  testimony  that  the  language  of 
gesture  is  a  universal  language ;  that  it  is  the  sign  lan- 
guage of  the  race ;  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  natural  and 
expressive  means  of  communication  that  we  have.  We  all 
employ  gestures  much  more  commonly  than  we  are  aware. 


90  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

We  instinctively  express  ideas  of  welcome  with  wide-flung 
arms  and  open  palms,  while  that  which  arouses  a  feeling 
of  pugnacity  just  as  naturally  finds  expression  through 
the  medium  of  the  clenched  fist. 

The  logical  method  of  cultivating  gesture,  therefore,  is 
by  taking  advantage  of  this  naturally  expressive  character 
of  our  gesture  language  and  developing  it  in  the  most 
natural  way.  In  doing  this  we  shall  do  well  to  think  of 
gesture  as  in  no  sense  a  difficult  accomplishment,  but  as  a 
very  easy  mode  of  expressing  ideas  by  means  of  our  arms 
and  hands.  If  we  have  taken  sufficient  pains  in  freeing 
these  members  of  muscular  tension,  so  that  they  will 
respond  readily  to  the  impulses  that  prompt,  there  will  be 
little  danger  of  our  action  being  mechanical. 

We  may  then  very  safely  observe  what  our  hands  seem 
to  express  as  we  use  them  in  one  way  or  another.  It  will 
be  interesting  to  note  in  what  way  they  most  naturally 
call  attention  to  some  definite  point  under  discussion ; 
what  their  action  is  if  they  express  very  great  determina- 
tion ;  how  they  look  if  they  show  mere  passiveness  or 
indifference.  The  student  will  get  much  valuable  training 
in  attempting  to  express  with  his  hands  in  this  way  a 
great  many  ideas  of  widely  different  character.  Indeed, 
it  will  be  something  of  a  pleasant  surprise  to  him  to  find 
that  gesture,  acquired  in  the  way  that  we  have  suggested, 
is  in  no  sense  a  difficult  task,  but  is  merely  the  doing,  in 
a  little  more  formal  way  than  he  has  been  accustomed  to, 
of  an  act  that  has  been  to  him  a  natural  mode  of  expres- 
sion from  childhood.  Perhaps,  however,  he  needs  now  to 
use  gestures  more  suggestively  or  emphatically  than  he  has 
used  them  before,  and  this  necessitates  their  cultivation. 


GESTURE  91 

Special  aids  for  cultivating  gesture.  After  the  speaker 
has  practiced  muscular  responses  by  giving  himself  freely 
to  mental  and  emotional  impulses  of  many  different  kinds, 
so  that  he  feels  that  he  does  not  make  gestures  by  con- 
scious and  laborious  effort,  he  may  very  properly  employ 
special  aids  in  gesture  training.  One  of  the  most  com- 
mon of  these  is  the  use  of  a  mirror.  Young  speakers 
are  usually  sensitive  to  the  possible  charge  of  being  a 
*'  looking-glass  orator."  There  is  little  real  cause  for  this 
feeling,  however,  when  we  consider  that  many  of  the 
great  orators  have  used  this  very  means  for  cultivating 
gesture.  It  affords  the  special  advantage  of  enabling  us 
to  see  ourselves  as  others  see  us  —  a  thing  greatly  to  be 
desired  by  every  public  speaker. 

Another  valuable  aid  is  that  of  criticism  from  some 
other  person.  I  have  always  favored  the  plan  of  students 
practicing  together  a  great  deal  in  their  gesture  work. 
A  student  who  may  know  but  little  about  the  technic 
of  gesture  has  no  trouble  in  detecting  rigid  muscles  and 
awkward  movements,  and  can  give  a  classmate  valuable 
assistance  in  the  practice  of  gesture. 

A  third,  and  perhaps  the  best,  means  of  learning  how 
to  employ  gesture  well  is  by  observing  how  it  is  used  by 
various  public  speakers.  In  doing  this,  it  is  always  well 
to  study  the  gesture  employed  by  speakers  of  all  kinds  — 
the  good,  the  bad,  and  the  indifferent.  It  is  something 
of  an  inspiration,  to  one  who  is  just  beginning  the  study 
of  gesture,  to  watch  the  action  of  a  skilled  speaker  whose 
gestures  are  so  perfect  that  one  could  think  of  no  way 
in  which  they  might  be  improved.  Yet  in  all  probability 
quite  as  much  real  benefit  would  be  gained  from  observing 


92  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

a  speaker  whose  action  was  very  imperfect.  A  speaker 
of  the  first  type  furnishes  the  ideal ;  while  one  of  the 
second  type  shows  us  the  many  things  that  we  ought  not 
to  do.  Both  are  important,  as  the  cultivation  of  gesture 
consists  of  the  eliminating  as  well  as  of  the  building-up 
process. 

Cultivate  expressiveness  of  gesture.  In  practicing 
gesture  before  a  mirror  or  with  the  aid  of  a  classmate's 
criticism,  specif  attention  should  be  given  to  the  expres- 
siveness of  gestures.  We  know  that  there  are  many  pub- 
lic speakers  whose  gestures  express  absolutely  nothing. 
They  are  mere  motions,  nothing  more.  Such  speakers 
have  been  compared  to  the  pump,  that 

Up  and  down  its  arm  doth  sway 

And  spouts  and  spouts  and  spouts  away. 

Gestures  that  express  nothing  had  far  better  not  be  used 
at  all ;  they  invariably  detract  from  the  effectiveness  of 
any  speech.  There  should  be  an  attempt  to  make  gestures 
as  significant  as  possible  by  eliminating  in  the  use  of  the 
hands  and  arms  those  elements  that  hinder  communica- 
tion and  by  cultivating  those  things  that  render  them 
most  expressive. 

Therefore,  as  the  speaker  observes  his  own  bodily  move- 
ments, he  will  do  well  to  note  carefully  what  his  hands 
seem  to  say.  Do  they  really  express  ideas  or  do  they  make 
mere  motions  that  are  uncommunicative  and  wooden } 
Does  each  gesture  seem  to  be  an  isolated  thing,  quite 
apart  from  all  other  action  of  the  body,  or  do  the  gestures 
seem  more  expressive  when  the  body  acts  in  harmony 
with  the  movements  of  the  arms  and  hands }    Does  the 


GESTURE  93 

hand  appear  more  expressive  when  the  thumb  and  fingers 
He  flat  and  are  drawn  close  together  or  when  they  are 
somewhat  separated  and  seem  alive  and  active  ?  Do  the 
gestures  look  better  when  the  arms  swing  free  from  the 
shoulders  or  when  the  elbows  cling  close  to  the  sides  ? 
Is  the  gesture  better  when  made  from  the  elbow  with  the 
forearm  and  hand  or  when  the  entire  arm  from  shoulder 
to  finger-tips  has  a  part  in  the  action  ?  Do  the  move- 
ments seem  more  graceful  when  the  hands  and  arms 
move  in  the  form  of  curves  or  when  every  joint  acts  as 
a  hinge  and  the  gestures  are  all  made  in  angular,  jack- 
knife  fashion  ?  Is  the  gesture  better  when  there  is  no 
action  of  the  wrist,  and  the  hand  and  forearm  act  as 
one,  or  when  there  is  a  whip  of  the  hand  from  the 
wrist?  Does  the  action  look  better  when  we  fold  the 
fingers  back  into  the  palm  each  time  after  a  gesture  is 
finished  or  when  we  relax  the  hand  ?  Does  it  look  better 
to  draw  the  hand  back  toward  the  body  before  letting 
it  fall  to  the  side  or  to  relax  it  at  the  point  where  the 
gesture  is  finished  ? 

Questions  such  as  these,  and  a  great  many  others,  the 
speaker  will  ask  himself  as  he  observes  his  own  action 
and  works  to  perfect  himself  in  the  art  of  gesture.  One 
thing,  however,  he  must  keep  constantly  in  mind :  the 
aim  of  this  training  is  not  to  enable  him  merely  to 
make  graceful  gestures ;  it  is  to  bring  his  mode  of 
communication  through  gesture  to  the  highest  degree 
of  expressiveness. 

The  principle  of  reserve  power  in  gesture.  The  ques- 
tion is  often  asked  by  students,  *'  Is  it  more  effective 
to  use  a  good  many  gestures  in  a  speech  or  a  few  ? " 


94  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

This  is  a  question  that  cannot  be  answered  categorically. 
Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  is  able  to  deliver  an  entire  address 
with  scarcely  a  gesture  of  any  kind,  and  yet  hold  his 
hearers  in  rapt  attention.  Other  speakers  accomplish  the 
same  end  by  using  a  great  many  gestures  of  a  most 
vigorous  nature.  No  one  can  say  that  the  one  style  of 
delivery  is  good  and  the  other  poor  or  that  one  is  better 
than  the  other.  A  great  deal  depends  upon  the  tempera- 
ment of  the  individual,  upon  the  kind  of  speech  that  he 
is  to  give,  or  upon  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is 
to  be  delivered.  Some  speakers  may  use  a  great  many 
gestures  while  others  use  few,  and  yet  both  may  be  equally 
effective. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  speakers  who  employ 
a  great  many  gestures  are  less  likely  to  be  discriminating 
in  the  use  of  them  than  those  who  employ  but  few.  It 
is  a  very  easy  matter  to  fall  into  the  habit  of  using  num- 
berless, ineffective  gestures  that  are  scarcely  more  than 
jerks  of  the  hand  and  are  entirely  without  meaning. 

I  recall  an  address  by  a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  before 
a  convocation  of  several  thousand  college  students,  in 
which  the  speaker  used  countless  gestures  of  this  kind 
to  no  purpose.  They  consisted  chiefly  of  little  thrusts 
toward  the  audience  with  the  index  finger.  Hardly  a  sen- 
tence was  uttered  without  one  or  more  of  these  impulses 
of  the  hand,  which  soon  lost  all  effect  of  emphasizing  or 
expressing  anything  and  became  a  decidedly  distracting 
factor  in  the  speech.  This  is  the  kind  of  mannerism 
that  any  speaker  is  likely  to  fall  into  if  he  uses  gesture 
carelessly,  without  thought  of  its  significance  or  purpose. 

A  few  gestures  used  to  good  purpose  in  a  speech  will 


GESTURE  95 

enable  the  speaker  to  bring  home  a  message  with  remark- 
able effectiveness  and  power;  while  a  great  many  gestures 
used  ineffectively  not  only  destroy  the  force  of  all  of  them 
but  become  a  positive  hindrance.  The  speaker,  in  his  use 
of  gesture,  as  in  his  employment  of  the  breath,  should 
cultivate  the  very  important  principle  of  reserve  power. 
A  wealth  of  physical  energy  expended  economically  is 
always  effective ;  while  such  power  expended  thoughtlessly 
and  prodigally  is  invariably  ineffective. 

Overuse  of  the  same  kind  of  gesture.  Another  objec- 
tionable feature  in  the  employment  of  gesture  is  the  con- 
tinued use  of  a  single  form  of  gesture  at  the  expense  of 
all  other  forms.  This  is  commonly  the  result  of  habit 
due  to  employing  gestures  thoughtlessly.  If  a  speaker's 
gestures  do  not  mean  anything,  one  kind  of  gesture  is 
as  good  as  another,  and  it  is  very  easy  for  him  to  fall 
into  the  habit  of  using  one  form  of  gesture  constantly. 
The  continued  use  of  the  index  finger  in  this  way  is  not 
uncommon.  I  have  known  public  speakers  who  seemed 
to  have  no  ability  to  express  anything  through  action  ex- 
cept with  the  index  finger  of  the  right  hand.  Speakers 
who  employ  gesture  in  this  way  obviously  use  it  to  their 
own  detriment.  Such  action  is  not  merely  inexpressive, 
it  is  a  source  of  constant  annoyance  to  an  audience. 

The  same  is  true  of  gestures  of  the  seesaw  type  ;  that 
is,  the  use  of  one  hand  and  then  the  other  with  almost 
mechanical  regularity.  Such  action  is  always  more  dis- 
tracting than  expressive. 

The  ideal  of  expression  through  gesture.  If  the  student 
proceeds  to  learn  gesture  by  the  gradual  steps  that  have 
been  suggested  in  this  chapter,  he  will  not  be  likely  to 


96  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

fall  into  habits  wherein  gestures  become  mere  regular, 
meaningless  motions.  And  as  he  continues  his  pursuit 
of  further  skill  in  gesture,  let  him  not  forget  that  here, 
as  in  every  other  form  of  expression,  thotight  must  stand 
foremost. 

The  ideal  of  expression  through  action  must  always  be 
the  communication  of  the  speaker's  thought  in  the  most 
expressive  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  least  obtrusive  man- 
ner. The  gestures  that  offend  most  are  usually  those  that 
express  least ;  and  the  speaker  who  cultivates  his  gesture 
with  the  thought  of  making  it  a  valuable  means  of  com- 
municating ideas  to  others  will  never  be  guilty  of  the 
faults  we  have  named.  If  he  has  a  variety  of  ideas  to 
convey,  he  will  learn  to  express  them  with  gestures  of 
many  different  kinds,  thus  assuring  variety  of  action. 
And  if  every  gesture  is  expressive  of  some  thought  or 
emotion,  he  will  be  in  no  danger  of  employing  action 
that  is  meaningless. 

Different  uses  of  gesture.  Some  further  suggestions  in 
regard  to  the  different  purposes  for  which  gestures  are 
employed  will  clear  up  many  of  the  puzzling  questions 
with  which  students  are  confronted  in  the  beginning  of 
their  speech  work.  As  to  their  uses,  gestures  are  divided 
into  four  classes : 

1.  Those  used  to  emphasize. 

2.  Those  used  to  suggest. 

3.  Those  used  to  locate. 

4.  Those  used  to  imitate. 

Emphatic  gestures.  Emphatic  gestures  are  those  that 
are  used  as  an  aid  to  vocal  emphasis.  In  the  sentence 
"If  we  fail  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us,  but  we  shall  not 


GESTURE  97 

fail,"  the  word  "not"  of  the  second  clause  is  strongly  em- 
phatic, and  would  be  given  with  strong  vocal  emphasis. 
If  the  speaker  saw  fit  to  aid  his  voice  with  a  gesture,  he 
might  use  a  strong  impulse  of  the  open  palm  or  of  the 
clenched  fist  on  the  word  "not"  at  the  same  time  that  he 
uttered  it  with  strong  vocal  stress.  This  would  be  em- 
phatic gesture.  It  is  one  of  the  most  common  and  most 
effective  kinds  of  gesture  used  by  the  public  speaker. 
Anyone  who  becomes  very  earnest  in  his  speaking  tends 
to  use  emphatic  gesture. 

The  most  important  suggestion  in  regard  to  its  use 
is  that  it  be  timed  exactly  with  the  vocal  stress  that  it 
accompanies.  It  is  this  kind  of  gesture  that  is  used  by 
the  declaimer  who  wants  to  "  put  some  gestures  into  his 
speech,"  and  we  know  how  ridiculous  it  seems  when 
the  stroke  of  his  gesture  comes  a  few  seconds  too  early 
or  too  late.  The  emphatic  gesture,  to  be  effective,  must 
coincide  exactly  with  the  vocal  stress  and  must  always 
come  upon  the  important  idea.  It  is  absurd  when  used 
on  an  unimportant  word. 

It  is  well  to  remember,  also,  that  emphatic  gestures  are 
the  ones  that  are  most  overworked  and  that  a  speech 
which  is  all  force  has  no  force.  It  is  here  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  reserve  power  in  gesture  needs  most  attention. 
The  speaker  who  thinks  that  he  must  drive  home  every 
idea  with  an  emphatic  action  of  the  clenched  fist  empha- 
sizes nothing.  It  is  only  as  emphatic  gestures  are  used 
where  emphasis  is  needed  that  they  become  effective. 

Suggestive  gestures.  Suggestive  gestures  are  those  that 
are  used  to  stimulate  the  imagination  —  to  suggest  to 
an  audience  things  which  they  cannot  see.    It  is  used  in 


98  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

describing  objects  or  scenes  which  are  clear  to  the  speaker 
and  which  he  wishes  to  render  equally  vivid  in  the  imagi- 
nation of  his  hearers.  To  accomplish  this  successfully 
requires  no  small  amount  of  skill.  The  chief  danger  lies 
in  making  the  picture  too  literal.  Whenever  the  picture 
is  presented  in  so  much  detail  that  nothing  is  left  to  the 
imagination,  the  speaker  fails  in  his  use  of  suggestive 
gesture. 

The  president  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary  is  a 
master  in  the  use  of  this  type  of  gesture.  In  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  New  England  landscape,  he  once  portrayed  a 
scene  with  such  vividness  that  you  felt  yourself  looking  out 
upon  it  and  admiring  its  beauty  with  him.  The  gestures 
were  merely  little  suggestive  actions  of  the  hands  and 
fingers  without  name  or  form  ;  and  yet,  with  the  guiding 
instinct  of  the  true  artist,  they  gave  little  touches  of 
light  and  shade  and  color  that  enabled  you  to  see  a 
picture  that  you  could  never  forget.  It  is  such  skill  as 
this  in  masterly  portrayal  that  enables  one  to  excel  as 
a  public  speaker. 

In  the  employment  of  suggestive  gestures  it  is  wise 
never  to  go  beyond  the  point  where  the  imagination  is  able 
to  complete  the  picture.  In  the  incident  just  cited  there 
was  no  unnecessary  itemizing,  no  mechanical  measuring 
of  distances,  no  enumeration  of  uninteresting  details.  All 
was  accomplished  by  delicate  touches  here  and  there  of 
life  and  color  which  enabled  one  to  draw,  in  his  own 
imagination,  just  the  picture  that  the  speaker  intended. 

Suggestive  gestures  are  used  by  some  speakers  more 
than  almost  any  other  kind,  and  are  particularly  useful 
in  portraying  a  great  range  of  objects,  scenes,  and  even 


GESTURE  99 

emotions  that  are  best  made  vivid  through  the  imagination. 
Special  pains  should  be  taken,  however,  to  be  consistent 
in  the  use  of  gestures  of  this  class.  Pictures  presented 
to  the  imagination  of  an  audience  are  often  much  con- 
fused from  lack  of  proper  perspective.  Any  description 
of  this  kind  by  means  of  suggestive  action  must  be  de- 
veloped consistently  throughout.  If  the  outlines  of  such 
a  picture  are  presented  to  the  mind's  eye  in  one  way  at 
the  beginning  and  are  inconsistently  altered  during  its 
development,  the  result  is  a  mere  muddle  of  details  that 
reveals  nothing.  Suggestive  gesture  is  one  of  the  most 
useful  means  of  conveying  ideas  that  are  ordinarily 
difficult  to  express,  but  it  needs  always  to  be  used  with 
discretion. 

Locative  gestures.  Locative  gestures  are  those  used  to 
indicate  the  location  of  a  fixed  point  or  object.  This  is 
a  favorite  form  of  gesture  used  by  public  speakers  in  re- 
ferring to  a  flag,  a  statue,  or  an  emblem  of  some  kind 
that  holds  a  certain  emotional  significance  for  the  occa- 
sion. When  Webster  pointed  at  the  Bunker  Hill  monu- 
ment and  referred  to  it  as  the  orator  of  the  occasion,  he 
no  doubt  employed  the  principle  of  locative  gesture  with 
remarkable  dramatic  effect.  Who  has  not  felt  the  thrill 
when  the  political  orator  skillfully  turns  just  at  the  right 
moment  and  points  to  the  picture  of  the  favorite  candidate  ? 

That  which  is  to  be  avoided  is  the  use  of  locative 
gesture  merely  for  startling  and  sensational  effects  or  for 
pointing  out  things  which  there  is  no  need  to  designate. 
Much  of  the  silly  training  of  children  is  of  this  kind. 
The  placing  of  the  hand  over  the  heart  when  referring 
to  that  member  or  of  pointing  to  the  head  when  speaking 


lOO  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  the  mind  seems  too  obviously  absurd  to  mention,  yet 
it  is  surprising  to  find  that  even  in  these  days  children 
are  instructed  to  do  these  very  things.  But  these  things, 
absurd  as  they  are,  are  less  ridiculous  than  the  action 
of  the  speaker  who,  in  referring  to  the  pulse  of  the 
South,  deliberately  placed  his  hand  upon  his  own  pulse. 
Locative  gestures  when  used  correctly  and  in  good  taste 
are  an  effective  means  of  expression.  But  here,  as  in  all 
other  forms  of  gesture,  the  speaker  must  exercise  good 
judgment. 

One  further  point  needs  to  be  made  clear.  The  question 
is  frequently  asked  by  students  whether  the  eyes  of  the 
speaker  should  follow  the  direction  of  the  hand  in  mak- 
ing locative  gestures.  This  depends  upon  the  purpose 
that  the  speaker  has  in  mind  in  the  use  of  gestures  of 
this  kind.  If  he  desires  his  hearers  to  look  at  the  object 
designated  by  the  gesture,  as  he  might  at  a  picture  or 
emblem  hanging  upon  the  wall,  he  will  not  only  point 
at  it  but  will  follow  the  action  of  his  hand  with  his 
eyes,  and  thus  direct  the  attention  of  the  audience  to  the 
object  so  that  they  will  look  at  it  also.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  desires  merely  to  refer  to  the  object  without 
directing  the  eyes  of  the  audience  to  it,  he  will  merely 
glance  in  the  direction  of  the  gesture,  thus  calling  their 
attention  to  it  but  leaving  their  chief  interest  centered 
upon  what  he  is  saying.  For  example,  if  a  lecturer 
upon  art  has  placed  upon  the  wall  some  pictures  which 
he  desires  his  audience  to  observe  closely,  he  will  un- 
doubtedly turn  and  point  out  certain  features,  looking  at 
them  as  he  does  so  and  directing  the  eyes  of  his  hearers 
to  them.   But  for  the  usual  purposes  of  the  public  speaker, 


GESTURE.  }Xyi', 

objects  are  commonly  referred  to  with  a  locative  gesture 
and  a  mere  glance  of  the  eye,  without  calling  the  attention 
of  the  audience  unduly  to  them. 

Imitative  gestures.  Imitative  gestures  are  those  by 
which  the  speaker  attempts  to  reproduce,  by  imitation, 
movements  that  he  has  observed.  Thus  the  witness  in 
the  court  room  says,  ''  I  saw  him  throw  the  man  to  the 
ground  like  this,"  and  attempts  to  imitate  the  exact  action 
that  took  place. 

This  form  of  gesture  is,  no  doubt,  the  most  primitive. 
It  is  a  common  means  of  communication  of  savage  men, 
and  we  know  that  children  use  it  constantly.  How  often 
do  we  hear  the  child  say,  "  Look,  he  did  just  like  this," 
and  an  attempt  is  made  to  carry  out  the  exact  action,  even 
if  it  be  a  difficult  acrobatic  feat  or  an  impossible  bodily 
contortion. 

Imitative  gestures  are  sometimes  the  most  expressive, 
and  are  entirely  appropriate  when  used  within  the  proper 
limits.  The  chief  objection  to  them  is  that  they  are 
usually  very  much  overdone.  The  student,  in  declaiming 
the  words  of  Henry  W.  Grady  where  the  orator  speaks 
of  the  footsore  Confederate  soldier,  as  ''  buttoning  up 
in  his  faded  gray  jacket  the  parole  that  was  to  bear 
testimony  to  his  children  of  his  fidelity  and  faith,"  will 
very  often  attempt  to  portray  the  action  by  going  through 
the  motions  of  buttoning  up  his  own  coat.  The  incon- 
gruity will  be  apparent  if  he  stops  to  think  how  little 
his  own  tailored  coat  will  be  likely  to  suggest  the  faded 
gray  jacket.  And,  at  any  rate,  he  is  merely  narrating  an 
incident  that  anyone  would  be  able  to  imagine  without 
the  aid  of  imitative  action. 


1 02  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Another  common  misuse  of  imitative  gesture  is  the 
attempt  to  express  in  Hteral  terms  ideas  that  are  in- 
tended only  in  a  figurative  sense.  It  is  not  at  all 
uncommon  for  the  words  of  Patrick  Henry  which  tell 
of  the  colonies  being  bound  by  the  fetters  of  British  rule 
to  be  portrayed  by  the  hands  tightly  crossed  as  though 
bound  by  actual  chains ;  or  for  the  words  of  Webster, 
"Let  us  not  hang  over  the  precipice  of  disunion,"  to  be 
illustrated  by  extending  the  arm  at  full  length  and  dan- 
gling the  hand  in  the  air.  Clearly  such  ideas  are  purely 
figurative,  and  they  become  highly  ridiculous  when  an 
attempt  is  made  to  express  them  literally. 

The  speaker  must  remember  that  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances he  is  not  an  actor  or  even  an  impersonator. 
There  are  times,  to  be  sure,  when  he  may  very  properly 
impersonate,  and  at  such  times  imitative  action  is  en- 
tirely appropriate ;  but  for  all  ordinary  purposes  the 
function  of  the  public  speaker  is  only  to  suggest  suflfi- 
ciently  to  enable  the  hearer  to  see,  to  understand,  and 
to  feel.  If  he  is  able  to  do  this  much,  he  has  entirely 
accomplished  his  end.  Whenever  he  goes  beyond  it,  he 
encroaches  upon  a  field  that  is  not  rightfully  his  own. 

A  final  word  regarding  gesture.  In  conclusion,  let 
there  be  no  misunderstanding  in  regard  to  the  aim  of 
this  discussion.  Action,  particularly  gesture,  is  a  most 
difficult  subject  to  discuss  in  print,  and  in  this  treatment 
of  it  I  have  tried  to  lay  down  fundamental  principles, 
not  mechanical  rules.  Let  it  not  be  charged  that  I  have 
suggested  in  the  beginning  that  gesture  should  be  left  to 
unguided  impulse,  and  have  concluded  by  giving  specific 
directions  for  its  cultivation.     My  purpose  has  been  to 


GESTURE  103 

show  that  the  cultivation  of  gesture  is  a  gradual  process 
that  must  begin  by  getting  away  from  all  thought  of 
its  being  difficult  of  accomplishment,  and  must  consist  at 
first  entirely  of  freeing  the  avenues  through  which  we 
are  later  to  express.  Then  from  this  we  may  proceed 
by  gradual  steps  until  gesture  may  be  safely  observed 
and  polished. 

But  let  us  at  no  time  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  from 
first  to  last  the  primary  consideration  is  always  the  thought 
and  that  the  end  of  all  gesture  is  expression. 


PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  IN  ACTION 

Exercise  I.  Prepare  the  way  for  effective  action  by 
an  all-round  physical  training.  Cultivate  freedom  and 
grace  by  out-of-door  sports,  such  as  riding,  swimming, 
and  tennis ;  by  exercises  in  physical  culture,  as  swinging 
Indian  clubs  and  dumb-bells  and  the  use  of  general 
gymnasium  apparatus.  Work  persistently  and  at  regular 
intervals  to  overcome  rigidity  and  awkwardness  of  all  kinds. 
Try  to  gain  a  feeling  of  suppleness  and  of  general  freedom 
of  the  entire  body.  Ask  for  helpful  suggestions  from  your 
teacher  of  physical  culture. 

Exercise  II.  Practice  simple  calisthenics  for  the  pur- 
pose of  general  freedom  of  muscles,  joints,  and  limbs,  as : 
Stand  erect  with  the  arms  extended  in  front  at  full 
length.  Let  them  fall  lifelessly  to  the  side.  Dangle  them 
back  and  forth,  trying  to  feel  freedom  of  every  part  from 
shoulder  to  finger  tips.  Raise  the  arms  horizontally  to  the 
side  and  let  them  fall  in  the  same  manner.  Repeat  both 
exercises  many  times,  dangling  the  arms  aimlessly  and 
working  for  a  feeling  of  general  freedom. 


I04  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Exercise  III.  Assume  a  position  as  in  the  preceding 
exercise,  with  the  arms  extended  forward.  Hold  them  in 
this  position  for  several  seconds,  then  relax  the  wrist  and 
let  the  hands  droop  from  the  level  of  the  outstretched 
arms.  Special  care  must  be  taken  not  to  bring  the  hands 
down  by  muscular  effort ;  when  the  wrists  relax,  the  hands 
should  fall  of  their  own  weight.  Vitalize  the  hands  and 
repeat  the  exercise  a  number  of  times,  until  there  is  a 
sense  of  weariness  and  a  feeling  of  complete  freedom 
of  wrists,  hands,  and  fingers.  Then  let  the  arms  relax 
and  fall  to  the  side.  Remain  quiet  for  a  few  moments, 
then  raise  the  arms  horizontally  to  the  side  and  repeat 
the  exercise.  Observe  how  this  exercise,  together  with 
the  preceding  one,  serves  to  establish  the  condition  so 
essential  to  good  gesture  —  freedom  of  all  the  parts,  and 
particularly  of  that  unruly  member,  the  wrist  joint. 

Exercise  IV.  Stand  erect  with  the  feet  well  separated 
and  with  one  foot  slightly  in  advance  of  the  other,  as  in 
assuming  a  good  speaking  position.  First,  let  the  weight 
of  the  body  rest  principally  upon  the  balls  of  both  feet. 
Then  sway  forward  until  nearly  all  the  weight  of  the  body 
rests  upon  the  front  foot.  Retain  this  position  for  a  few 
seconds,  then  sway  the  body  backward  slowly  until  the 
weight  rests  chiefly  on  the  heel  of  the  rear  foot.  Continue 
this  shifting  of  the  weight  forward  and  backward,  making 
the  movement  a  little  less  marked  each  time  until  a  posi- 
tion of  perfect  poise  is  gained,  such  as  we  considered  early 
in  Chapter  III.  The  aim  should  be  to  discover  by  actual 
trial  just  how  the  body  may  be  held  in  perfect  poise  so 
as  to  give  the  greatest  ease  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
greatest  freedom  for  public  speaking. 

Exercise  V.  Stand  erect  in  easy  poise,  with  the  weight 
of  the  body  evenly  distributed  between  both  feet.  Shift 
the  weight  to  the  left  foot,  leaving  the  right  leg  entirely 


GESTURE  105 

free.  Without  allowing  the  body  to  slump,  dangle  the 
right  leg  in  the  same  manner  as  suggested  for  the  arms 
in  Exercise  II.  Try  to  gain  a  feeling  of  general  freedom 
from  the  hip  downward.  Then  walk  forward  with  the 
right  foot  leading,  with  easy,  graceful  walking  movements, 
such  as  would  look  well  in  advancing  upon  the  platform 
when  addressing  an  audience.  Stop  in  a  good  speaking 
position.  Repeat  the  exercise  by  resting  the  weight  of 
the  body  upon  the  right  foot,  freeing  the  left  leg,  and 
advancing  in  the  same  manner.  Practice  many  move- 
ments of  this  kind,  forward  and  backward  and  to  the 
side,  in  order  to  cultivate  good  poise  and  easy  walking 
movements  upon  the  platform.  Note  the  ungainly  effect 
that  results  when  an  attempt  is  made  to  cross  the  free  leg 
in  front  of  the  one  upon  which  the  weight  of  the  body  rests. 
Exercise  VI.  Speak  the  following  sentences  with 
correct  vocal  expression  and  with  such  action  of  the 
arms  and  hands  (or  of  the  entire  body  if  you  feel  like 
it)  as  you  may  have  the  impulse  to  use.  Do  not  attempt 
to  put  in  any  gestures  of  any  kind ;  use  only  such  action 
as  you  feel  like  using,  and  do  not  trouble  yourself  about 
forms  of  gesture.  Merely  use  the  kind  of  gesture  that 
seems  to  you  to  express  the  idea  in  the  best  way.  As- 
similate fully  the  thought  of  each  sentence  before  you  try 
to  express  it,  and  remember  that  you  are  using  gesture 
solely  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  each  idea  in  a  more 
effective  way  than  you  would  be  able  to  express  it  by  means 
of  the  voice  alone.  If  there  is  no  impulse  at  first  to  express 
through  action,  repeat  the  sentence  several  times  with  an 
attempt  to  make  the  thought  clearer  or  more  emphatic, 
and  note  the  result.  Stand  in  an  easy  speaking  position, 
preferably  upon  a  platform  in  a  good-sized  room,  and 
speak  as  though  expressing  the  thought  earnestly  to  an 
actual  audience. 


Io6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

1.  I  ask  you  to  consider  fairly  with  me  the  proposition 
of  preparedness  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

I  would  call  your  attention  to  what  I  regard  as  two 
very  important  considerations  in  this  question:  first,  the 
desirability  for  a  change  of  present  conditions;  second, 
the  necessity  for  such  a  change. 

Now,  what  in  your  opinion  would  be  the  wisest  policy  to 
pursue  just  at  this  time } 

Several  proposals  for  bettering  conditions  have  been 
made.  The  first  is  reasonable  and  one  that  I  would  be 
willing  to  accept;  the  second,  I  consider  impractical  and 
would  reject  at  the  start;  the  third  is  ridiculously  absurd 
and  one  that  I  would  strenuously  oppose. 

2.  There  can  be  no  delay;  we  must  act  and  act  im- 
mediately. 

Behold  a  broad  extent  of  territory  with  unlimited  re- 
sources stretching  from  east  to  west. 

Here  on  this  very  spot  merged  those  tremendous  forces 
which  determined  our  nation's  destiny. 

Acres  and  acres  of  land  have  merely  gone  to  waste. 

The  bright-winged  bird  flitted  here,  there,  yonder,  and 
was  gone. 

Five,  ten,  twenty  years,  but  no  news  of  his  return. 

Specter-like,  a  female  figure  glided  among  the  shadows 
of  the  forest  and  was  lost  in  its  silent  depths. 

Instantly  the  great  car  shot  forward,  rounded  the  sharp 
curve  at  the  end  of  the  arena,  and  then  —  the  crash. 

Our  schools,  our  shops,  our  firesides  —  all  are  vitally 
concerned  in  the  outcome  of  this  issue. 

On  the  one  hand,  culture,  refinement,  unbounded  oppor- 
tunity;  on  the  other,  ignorance,  selfishness,  unspeakable 
degradation. 


GESTURE  107 

3.  What  is  it  that  gentlemen  wish?  What  would  they 
have  ? 

I  know  of  no  way  of  judging  the  future  but  by  the  past. 

Are  fleets  and  armies  necessary  to  a  work  of  love  and 
reconciliation  ? 

They  are' sent  over  to  bind  and  rivet  upon  us  those  chains 
which  the  British  ministry  have  been  so  long  forging. 

What  have  we  to  oppose  them  ?  Shall  we  try  argument? 

Have  we  anything  new  to  offer  upon  the  subject? 
Nothing. 

We  have  done  everything  that  could  be  done  to  avert  the 
storm  that  is  now  coming  on. 

The  war  is  inevitable,  —  and  let  it  come  !  I  repeat  it,  sir, 
let  it  come ! 

Gentlemen  may  cry.  Peace,  peace  !   But  there  is  no  peace. 

I  know  not  what  course  others  may  take ;  but  as  for  me, 
give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death  I 

Exercise  VII.  Express  in  the  way  that  seems  to  you 
most  appropriate  the  following  ideas,  which  tend  to  require 
different  forms  of  gesture  : 

I.  Emphatic  gestures. 

In  effective  expression  the  guiding  principle  must  be  first, 
last,  and  always  the  thought. 

The  things  required  for  prosperous  labor,  prosperous 
manufactures,  and  prosperous  commerce  are  three :  first, 
liberty ;  second,  liberty  ;  third,  liberty. 

You  cannot,  I  repeat  it,  sirs,  you  cannot  conquer 
America. 

There  is  no  alternative.    I  defy  them,  I  defy  them  all. 

If  I  were  an  American  as  I  am  an  Englishman,  .  .  . 
I  would  never  lay  down  my  arms,  never  1  never  1  never! 


I08  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

2.  Suggestive  gestures. 

In  my  native  town  of  Athens  is  a  monument  that  crowns 
its  central  hills  —  a  plain  white  shaft.  Deep  cut  into  its 
shining  side  is  a  name  dear  to  me  above  the  names  of  men, 
that  of  a  brave  and  simple  man  who  died  in  a  brave  and 
simple  faith. 

Witness  the  veteran  standing  at  the  base  of  the  Con- 
federate monument,  above  the  graves  of  his  comrades,  his 
empty  sleeve  tossing  in  the  April  wind,  adjuring  the  young 
men  about  him  to  serve  as  honest  and  loyal  citizens  the 
government  against  which  their  fathers  fought. 
.  I  catch  another  vision.  I'he  crisis  of  battle  —  a  soldier 
struck,  staggering,  fallen.  I  see  a  slave  scuffling  through 
the  smoke,  winding  his  black  arms  about  the  fallen  form, 
reckless  of  the  hurding  death,  bending  his  trusty  face  to 
catch  the  words  that  tremble  on  the  stricken  lips. 

I  see  him  by  the  weary  bedside,  ministering  with  un- 
complaining patience,  praying  with  all  his  humble  heart  that 
God  will  lift  his  master  up,  until  death  comes  in  mercy  and 
in  honor  to  still  the  soldier's  agony  and  seal  the  soldier's 
life. 

I  see  him  by  the  open  grave,  mute,  motionless,  uncovered, 
suffering  for  the  death  of  him  who  in  life  fought  against 
his  freedom. 

I  see  him  when  the  mound  is  heaped  and  the  great  drama 
of  his  life  is  closed,  turn  away  and  with  downcast  eyes  and 
uncertain  step  start  out  into  new  and  strange  fields,  falter- 
ing, struggling,  but  moving  on,  until  his  shambling  figure  is 
lost  in  the  light  of  this  better  and  brighter  day. 

3.  Locative  gestures. 

See,  on  that  hilltop  a  camp  fire  is  burning. 

There  he  stood  statue-like  as  if  transfixed  on  the  spot. 

He  is  the  culprit  on  whom  rests  the  blame. 


GESTURE  109 

Observe  here  the  remarkable  blending  of  light  and  shade 
and  the  minuteness  of  detail. 

This  picture  has  been  an  inspiration  to  generations 
of  artists. 

4.  Imitative  gestures. 

He  lifted  his  hand  impressively  in  this  way  and  the 
audience  was  thrilled. 

It  was  a  grotesque  figure  not  more  than  so  high. 

A  finger  was  placed  to  the  lips  and  everyone  understood. 

It  was  a  piece  of  ancient  manuscript  about  so  wide  and 
so  long,  peculiarly  inscribed. 

After  making  many  peculiar  movements  he  crouched 
down  thus,   feebly  extending  his  arms. 

Exercise  VIII.  Practice  gesture  by  the  use  of  extracts 
from  the  speeches  of  great  orators.  Bits  of  famous 
eloquence  furnish  some  of  the  most  valuable  material  for 
gesture  training.  It  is  well  to  commit  to  memory  notable 
passages  from  speeches  of  many  of  the  great  orators  and 
make  them  available  for  gesture  practice.  The  speeches 
of  Henry  W.  Grady  abound  in  word  pictures,  such  as 
those  quoted  above  under  the  head  of  suggestive  gestures. 
They  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  are 
admirably  suited  for  purposes  of  cultivating  expressive 
gesture.  The  speeches  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  furnish  an 
abundance  of  similar  material.  The  notable  speeches  of 
John  M.  Thurston,  although  of  a  very  different  nature,  are 
equally  excellent  for  this  purpose.  The  student  will  be 
able  to  determine  upon  the  rtiaterial  best  suited  to  his 
needs  by  making  himself  conversant  with  the  great 
orations   of   orators   past  and   present. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  BREATH 

The  majority  of  students  who  elect  courses  in  pubHc 
speaking  with  the  view  to  becoming  effective  speakers,  if 
called  upon  to  express  an  opinion  in  regard  to  the  impor- 
tance of  breath  control  in  their  work,  will  say  that  they  are 
taking  public  speaking  to  learn  how  to  talk,  not  how  to 
breathe,  and  are  for  the  most  part  indifferent  to  the  sub- 
ject. It  is  usually  not  until  the  teacher  has  taken  the  pains 
to  point  out  that  there  can  be  no  effective  use  of  the  voice 
without  proper  breath  control  that  the  student  manifests 
any  interest  whatever  in  the  subject. 

In  a  recent  debate  one  of  the  speakers,  who  had  spent 
several  months  in  preparation  for  the  occasion,  had  such 
imperfect  use  of  his  breath  that  at  the  end  of  his  fifteen- 
minute  speech  he  became  so  hoarse  that  he  was  obliged 
to  apologize  to  the  audience  for  his  "  bad  throat."  Yet 
in  the  long  course  of  his  preparation  it  probably  never 
occurred  to  the  young  man  that  the  management  of  his 
breath  would  have  anything  to  do  with  the  effectiveness 
of  his  speech  when  the  final  test  came. 

Dr.  Wesley  Mills  of  McGill  University,  who  has  made 
a  life  study  of  the  voice  and  is  regarded  as  an  authority 
upon  the  singing  and  the  speaking  voice,  makes  the  fol- 
lowing significant  statement  in  regard  to  the  importance 
of  the  breath  in  vocalization : 

no 


THE  BREATH  -  ill 

The  more  the  writer  knows  of  singers  and  speakers,  the 
more  deeply  does  he  become  convinced  that  singing  and 
speaking  may  be  resolved  into  the  correct  use  of  the  breath- 
ing apparatus  above  all  else.  Not  that  this  alone  will  suffice, 
but  it  is  the  most  important,  and  determines  more  than  any 
other  factor  the  question  of  success  and  failure.  Breathing 
is  the  keynote  with  which  we  must  begin,  and  to  which  we 
must  return  again  and  again.  ^ 

It  is  essential,  therefore,  that  everyone  who  attempts  to 
speak  in  public  should  know  at  least  enough  about  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  breath  and  its  control  to 
be  able  to  use  the  correct  method  in  his  own  work. 

The  nature  of  the  vocal  mechanism.  The  mechanism 
of  the  human  voice  may  be  said  to  constitute  a  wind  instru- 
ment very  similar  in  its  construction  to  a  pipe  organ.  The 
pipe  organ  has  three  essential  parts  —  first,  the  reed  which 
vibrates  and  produces  tone ;  second,  the  bellows  which 
furnishes  the  stream  of  air  that  causes  the  vibration  of  the 
reed ;  third,  the  hollow  pipe  that  reenforces  the  tone  pro- 
duced by  the  passage  of  the  air  through  the  reed.  In  the 
human  vocal  apparatus  the  vocal  cords  are  the  reeds  or 
vibrating  parts  ;  the  lungs,  the  bellows  or  motive  parts ; 
and  the  trachea,  together  with  the  roof  of  the  mouth  and 
cavities  of  the  head,  the  reenforcing  or  resonating  parts. 

Since  the  lungs  receive  the  stream  of  breath  and  serve 
as  reservoirs  for  it  until  it  is  sent  forth  to  be  converted  into 
tone,  they  lie  at  the  very  foundation  of  all  vocal  processes. 
And  the  management  of  the  breath  as  it  is  taken  in  and 
sent  out  from  the  lungs  has  more  to  do  than  any  other  one 
thing  with  the  clearness  and  effectiveness  of  the  voice. 

1  Mills,  Voice  Production  in  Speaking  and  Singing,  p.  44. 


112  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  function  of  the  ribs  and  muscles.  The  lungs  are 
very  elastic  and,  like  the  bellows  of  wind  instruments,  are 
capable  of  very  marked  expansion  and  contraction.  They 
do  not  of  themselves,  however,  furnish  the  motor  power  in 
the  production  of  tone,  but  in  performing  their  function 
are  dependent  upon  the  bones  and  muscles  which  sur- 
round them.  The  upper  ribs,  which  are  attached  both  to 
the  spine  and  to  the  sternum,  form  a  bony  cage  which 
completely  surrounds  the  lungs,  while  at  their  base  a  very 
strong  elastic  muscle,  the  diaphragm,  separates  them  from 
the  abdominal  cavity  underneath.  This  muscular  partition 
is  arched  across  the  body,  with  its  concave  surface  down- 
ward, so  that  when  it  contracts  it  pushes  against  the 
stomach,  liver,  and  intestines  below,  thus  tending  to  form 
a  cavity  in  the  chest  above  and  making  room  for  the 
expansion  of  the  lungs. 

The  ribs  with  their  connecting  muscles  play  a  very  im- 
portant part  in  the  breathing  process.  It  is  important  to 
keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  lungs  are  entirely  passive 
in  their  action.  It  seems  to  be  the  idea  of  many  people 
that  the  lungs  are  organs  which  are  capable  of  func- 
tioning in  some  such  manner  as  a  strong  muscle  might 
do.  This  is  not  at  all  the  case.  They  are  exceedingly 
light  and  spongy  substances  that  have  no  power  of  their 
own,  but  are  merely  agents,  acting  only  as  they  are  acted 
upon  by  the  strong  muscles  and  bony  structure  that  sur- 
round them.  It  is  these  strong  surrounding  muscles  and 
bony  structures  that  are  the  real  levers  or  power-producing 
instruments.  When  these  levers  act  so  as  to  increase  the 
size  of  the  chest,  the  air  rushes  into  the  lungs  as  it  might 
into  two  flexible  rubber  bags,  thus  filling  out  the  cavity 


THE  BREATH       .  II3 

that  tends  to  be  formed.  Their  action  can  be  best  under- 
Itood  by  remembering  that  they  are  perfectly  Hmp,  sponge- 
like substances  that  serve  merely  as  containers  for  the 
breath,  and  lie  loosely  in  the  chest  so  that  they  follow 
always  the  action  of  the  walls  that  surround  them. 

The  function  of  the  lungs.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  lungs  perform  the  twofold  function  of  supplying 
the  body  with  the  air  necessary  to  sustain  life  and  also  of 
furnishing  breath  sufficient  for  purposes  of  speech.  Every 
teacher  of  physical  culture  emphasizes  the  importance  of 
deep  breathing  for  the  general  health  of  the  body ;  and 
if  the  only  function  of  the  breath  were  to  supply  the 
blood  with  the  necessary  oxygen  for  this  purpose,  the  whole 
matter  might  be  dismissed  with  the  single  suggestion  that 
we  breathe  deeply. 

The  breath  as  employed  in  speech.  The  employment 
of  the  breath  for  the  purposes  of  speech,  however,  pre- 
sents a  distinct  and  peculiar  problem.  In  the  first  case 
the  breath  is  inhaled  and  exhaled  constantly  with  no 
thought  of  con;5erving  or  sustaining  it  any  more  at  one 
time  than  at  another ;  while  in  the  case  of  the  breath 
employed  in  the  production  of  tone  it  must  be  both 
taken  in  and  given  out  in  a  different  manner  from  that 
employed  in  the  ordinary  breathing  process.  The  essential 
differences  between  the  processes  are  two : 

1.  The  speaker  must  be  able  to  take  in  the  breath 
more  quickly  than  in  ordinary  inhalation  and  at  such 
times  as  may  be  necessary. 

2.  He  must  be  able  to  give  out  the  breath  more 
slowly  than  in  ordinary  exhalation  and  only  in  the 
proper  amounts  needed  for  good  vocalization. 


114  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  speaker  cannot  depend  upon  taking  a  deep  breath, 
using  it  until  it  is  all  expended  and  then  stopping  for 
another,  for  this  stop  may  occur  in  the  midst  of  an  im- 
portant phrase  or  even  between  the  syllables  of  a  word. 
He  must  be  able  so  to  manage  his  breath  that  he  can 
take  it  quickly  at  the  natural  pauses  in  speech,  and 
conserve  it  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  be  given  out  gradu- 
ally and  never  all  at  once.  This  necessitates  complete 
control  of  the  muscles  that  govern  the  inhaling  and  exhal- 
ing processes.  This  control  can  best  be  understood  by 
examining  the  different  methods  that  may  be  employed 
in  breathing.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  more  air 
is  needed  for  purposes  of  speech  than  for  ordinary  breath- 
ing ;  so,  in  order  that  the  lungs  may  have  additional  room 
in  which  to  expand,  it  becomes  necessary  to  secure  an 
expansion  of  the  walls  which  surround  the  lungs.  This 
expansion  may  be  accomplished  in  three  different  ways. 

Clavicular,  or  upper-chest,  breathing.  First,  expansion 
may  be  gained  by  what  is  known  as  the  '*  clavicular,"  or 
collar-bone,  method  of  breathing.  In  this  method  there  is 
an  attempt  to  gain  the  additional  space  for  the  expansion 
of  the  lungs  by  the  action  of  the  upper  chest,  practically 
unaided  by  the  muscles  farther  down.  This  is  accom- 
plished by  raising  the  breastbone  upward  and  outward 
and  lifting  the  whole  upper  structure  of  the  trunk.  The 
result  is  that  the  upper  ribs,  together  with  the  weight  of 
the  collar  bone,  the  chest  muscles,  and  the  arms,  must  be 
raised  with  each  breath.  As  the  chest  is  cone-shaped, 
this  attempt  to  gain  expansion  at  its  smallest  point 
requires  unnatural  effort.  This  method  of  breathing  may 
be  easily  observed  in  individuals  who  lift  the  shoulders 


THE  BREATH  II5 

V 

and  upper  chest  in  taking  a  deep  breath  and  who  expe- 
rience fatigue  with  the  sHghtest  exertion,  such  as  rapid 
walking  or  cHmbing  a  flight  of  stairs.  People  who  em- 
ploy this  method  have  no  reserve  power  either  for  speak- 
ing or  for  normal  activities.  The  breath  comes  short 
and  quick  and  appears  to  be  entirely  expended  before  a 
new  breath  is  taken.  This  lack  of  breath  support  is  not 
always  apparent  in  ordinary  conversation,  but  is  readily 
observed  when  the  necessity  for  more  sustained  utterance 
makes  a  reserve  power  of  breath  essential.  It  is  very 
common  with  persons  who  are  accustomed  to  wearing 
tight  clothing  about  the  waist.  The  lower  ribs  and  ab- 
dominal muscles  become  cramped  and  unaccustomed  to 
expand  and  contract  in  their  natural  way,  and  the  whole 
breathing  process  is  improperly  forced  into  the  small 
apex  of  the  chest.  The  result  is  an  insufficient  supply  of 
breath  for  purposes  of  speaking  and  frequently  permanent 
injury  to  the  health. 

This  type  of  breathing  is  very  often  due  to  carelessness 
with  one's  carriage.  The  person  stands  or  walks  in  a 
slovenly  manner,  the  shoulders  droop,  the  chest  is  caved 
in,  the  normal  breathing  muscles  of  the  lower  trunk 
become  inactive,  and  upper-chest  breathing  is  the  result. 

One  of  the  worst  cases  of  this  kind  that  have  come 
to  my  attention  was  that  of  a  student  who  had  lived  on 
the  farm  and  had  been  accustomed  to  an  abundance  of 
fresh  air  and  wholesome  exercise.  Yet  his  method  of 
breathing  was  so  poor  that  when  he  attempted  to  speak 
from  the  platform  his  tone  was  little  more  than  a  whisper. 
The  voice  was  extremely  husky  and  the  breath  short  and 
labored.    On  examination   it  was  found  that  there  was 


Ii6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

no  physical  defect  other  than  that  of  letting  the  chest 
fall  in  and  allowing  the  shoulders  to  become  stooped 
through  carelessness.  Upon  being  advised  to  stand  erect 
and  to  practice  the  use  of  a  few  simple  exercises  in 
deep  breathing,  the  student  made  rapid  improvement 
in  vocalization. 

The  speaker,  above  all  others,  should  avoid  lax  habits 
of  this  kind.  The  chest  should  be  held  high,  the  head 
erect,  and  the  correct  breathing  muscles  employed  at 
all  times.  One  cannot  hope  to  employ  proper  methods 
while  speaking  in  public  if  the  habits  of  everyday  life 
are  lax  and  careless. 

The  upper-chest  method  is  to  be  thoroughly  condemned, 
since  it  is  harmful  in  its  general  effects.  Not  only  is  it 
inadequate  and  exhausting  for  purposes  of  speech  but  it 
usually  affects  the  quality  of  the  voice  in  some  unpleasant 
way,  such  as  making  it  breathy,  harsh,  or  throaty. 

Costal,  or  rib,  breathing.  The  second  method  of  breath- 
ing, commonly  known  as  ''costal,"  or  rib,  breathing,  is  a 
lifting  of  the  lower  ribs  by  means  of  the  intercostal  (inter- 
rib)  muscles.  Unlike  the  upper  ribs  the  lower  ones  are 
not  attached  to  the  breastbone  and  therefore  are  free  to 
move  outward,  giving  greater  opportunity  for  the  expan- 
sion of  the  lungs.  Also,  the  upper  ribs  are  covered  with 
a  heavy  layer  of  muscles  and  fat,  which  renders  them 
rather  inflexible,  while  the  lower  ones  bear  a  less  weight 
of  tissue  and  move  outward  much  more  readily.  The 
intercostal  muscles  exert  a  strong  leverage  upon  these 
free  lower  ribs,  and  by  their  action  the  ribs  are  lifted 
upward  and  outward,  giving  a  lateral  expansion  to  this 
part  of  the  chest  much  greater  than  is  possible  higher 


THE  BREATH  11/ 

up,  where  the  surrounding  ribs  are  firmly  attached  to 
the  spine  and  to  the  breastbone.  This  method  of  breath- 
ing is  less  exhausting  than  that  of  lifting  the  shoulders, 
and  yet  it  is  not  altogether  satisfactory,  inasmuch  as  it 
consists  chiefly  in  the  action  of  the  intercostal  muscles 
and  brings  into  play  only  a  part  of  the  organs  that  should 
be  employed  in  the  breathing  process.  It  is  only  as  it  is 
used  in  conjunction  with  the  third  method  that  it  becomes 
effective. 

Abdominal,  or  central,  breathing.  The  third  method  of 
breathing,  known  as  "abdominal,"  or  central,  breathing, 
is  the  most  effective,  since  it  consists  of  action  not  around 
the  lungs,  as  in  the  costal  or  clavicular  method,  but  directly 
underneath,  where  the  greatest  power  is  capable  of  being 
exerted.  When  the  lungs  are  to  be  filled  with  air,  the 
most  natural  way  to  make  room  for  their  expansion  is  by 
the  lowering  of  the  flexible  diaphragm  underneath.  As 
this  muscle  contracts  it  comes  down  from  its  arched  posi- 
tion, thus  giving  considerable  room  above  for  the  expan- 
sion of  the  lungs,  while  at  the  same  time  it  pushes  the 
viscera  downward  and  outward,  causing  a  marked  expan- 
sion of  the  front  wall  of  the  abdomen.  It  is  this  particu- 
lar action  that  is  a  sure  indication  of  whether  or  not  a 
person's  breathing  method  is  correct.  By  taking  a  deep 
breath,  with  one  hand  resting  on  the  upper  chest  and 
the  other  just  below  the  breastbone,  it  is  easy  to  detect 
whether  one  is  using  the  right  breathing  method. 

Correct  breathing  for  voice  production.  The  action  of 
the  diaphragm  and  of  the  abdominal  muscles  is  usually  ac- 
companied by  the  costal  expansion  of  the  second  method, 
whereby   the   lower  ribs   are   lifted  and  the   breastbone 


Il8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

is  thrust  outward,  causing  a  general  enlargement  of  the 
chest  and  affording  the  freest  possible  expansion  of  the 
lungs.  This  action  is  the  most  natural  and  is  accom- 
plished with  the  least  amount  of  friction,  and  conse- 
quently the  least  expenditure  of  energy,  of  any  of  the 
methods  that  may  be  employed  in  breathing.  There  is 
no  strained  or  forced  movement  of  the  parts,  as  in  upper- 
chest  breathing.  The  organs  all  tend  to  move  in  the 
line  of  the  least  resistance,  giving  the  greatest  freedom 
and  at  the  same  time  the  greatest  power  and  control 
possible  for  purposes  of  speech. 

The  exact  nature  of  the  breathing  process.  The  breath- 
ing process,  commonly  known  as  respiration,  consists  of 
two  acts  —  inspiration  and  expiration.  In  the  abdominal 
method  of  breathing  the  diaphragm  presses  downward 
against  the  viscera,  and  the  abdomen  is  distended  by  an 
entirely  active  process ;  that  is,  the  diaphragm  being  a 
very  strong  and  tough  muscle  has  the  power  of  contract- 
ing vigorously,  thus  serving  as  the  motor  force  in  the 
act  of  inspiration.  Then  when  once  the  lungs  have  been 
filled  and  the  air  begins  to  pass  from  them,  the  pres- 
sure against  the  surrounding  organs  is  released,  and  the 
diaphragm,  abdomen,  and  lower  ribs  fall  back  to  their 
natural  position  without  muscular  effort.  This  constitutes 
the  act  of  expiration  and,  unlike  inspiration,  is  a  passive 
process.  It  is  the  speaker's  knowledge  and  use  of  these 
two  processes  that  determine  more  than  anything  else 
the  effective  use  of  his  breath  in  voice  production. 

Function  of  tidal  and  complemental  air.  The  air  usu- 
ally taken  into  the  lungs  with  a  single  breath  is  called 
tidal  aivy   and  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  body 


THE  BREATH  II9 

with  oxygen  this  tidal  air  is  sufficient.  But  if  a  part  of 
the  air  breathed  is  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  produc- 
ing tone,  more  air  is  required,  and  this  added  amount  is 
called  complemental  air.  Now  for  purposes  of  speech,  only 
the  complemental  air  should  be  used.  The  tidal  air  should 
be  held  as  a  reserve  in  the  lungs.  A  very  common  fault 
of  untrained  speakers  is  an  attempt  to  use  this  reserve 
air  for  purposes  of  vocalization,  with  the  result  that  there 
is  not  sufficient  breath  to  support  the  tones,  and  the 
speaker  appears  to  be  expending  constantly  nearly  every 
ounce  of  energy.  And  then  to  compensate  for  the  lack 
of  the  necessary  breath,  there  is  a  severe  straining  of  the 
muscles  of  the  throat  in  an  attempt  to  make  the  voice-box 
perform  that  function  without  the  sufficient  supply  of 
breath.  The  speaker  can  continue  for  only  a  short  time 
in  this  way  until  the  constriction  of  the  throat  causes 
a  harshness  of  the  voice  that  is  unpleasant,  and  often 
painful,  to  listen  to. 

Properly  controlled  breath  fundamental.  The  amount 
of  air  contained  by  the  lungs  varies  greatly.  In  normal 
breathing  it  is  only  about  twenty-five  to  thirty  cubic  inches, 
while  in  very  deep  breathing  it  may  be  increased  to  one 
hundred  cubic  inches  or  more,  depending  upon  the  elas- 
ticity of  the  chest.  And  while,  as  we  have  seen,  more 
air  is  usually  required  for  vocalization  than  for  normal 
breathing,  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  public 
speaker  must  breathe  constantly  to  the  full  capacity  of 
his  lungs.  The  prime  essential  of  effective  vocalization 
is  not  a  large  amount  of  breath,  as  is  often  supposed 
by  untrained  speakers,  but  rather  a  moderate  amotmt  of 
breath  properly  controlled. 


120  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

How  satisfying  it  is  to  listen  to  a  speaker  who  has 
such  perfect  control  of  the  breath  that  there  appears 
to  be  always  a  great  deal  more  held,  in  reserve  than  is 
needed,  and  the  voice-box  seems  merely  an  instrument 
that  is  being  freely  played  upon  by  the  stream  of  breath 
coming  from  the  lungs !  Indeed,  there  is  hardly  any 
resource  of  the  public  speaker  more  to  be  desired  than 
that  ''splendid  reserve"  which  affords  always  a  sense 
of  mastery. 

In  order  that  the  exact  action  of  the  breath  may  be 
observed  and  understood,  I  give  here  two  breathing 
records  recently  made  in  the  Psychological  Laboratory 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

Diagram  I 


Diagram  I  shows  the  action  of  the  breath  in  normal 
breathing.  It  is  a  record  taken  of  my  own  breathing 
while  I  was  sitting  quietly  with  the  eyes  closed.  The 
record  was  made  by  means  of  the  pulmograph,  a  very 
delicate  instrument  which  records  the  slightest  expansion 
or  contraction  of  the  lungs  in  breathing  and  speaking. 
In  each  instance  the  downward  stroke  shows  the  action 
of  the  breath  in  inhalation,  and  the  upward  stroke  its 


THE  BREATH 


121 


action  in  exhalation.  In  this  record  the  breath  was  not 
employed  for  vocalization.  It  was  merely  inhaled  and  ex- 
haled in  a  normal  way.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that 
all  the  breaths  are  of  about  equal  length,  and  that  no 
difference  can  be  observed  between  the  lines  that  show  the 
inhalation  of  breath  and  those  that  record  the  exhalation. 
Now  let  us  compare  with  this  a  second  diagram, 
showing  the  action  of  the  breath  when  employed  in 
speech. 

Diagram  II 


Diagram  II  is  a  record  taken  of  my  breathing  while  in 
exactly  the  same  position  as  in  the  first  instance.  Here 
the  breath  was  employed  for  purposes  of  vocalization.  I 
spoke  a  paragraph  from  an  oration  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll, 
using  much  or  little  breath  as  the  expression  required, 
and  controlling  it  so  that  there  was  no  improper  intake 
of  breath  in  the  midst  of  phrases. 

If  we  compare  this  record  with  that  of  Diagram  I,  the 
following  differences  are  apparent :  in  the  speaking  record 
the  Unes  indicating  the  inhalation  show  that  the  breath 


122  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

was  taken  more  quickly  than  in  the  breathing  record, 
that  inhalation  occurred  at  less  regular  intervals,  and  that 
the  breath  was  held  in  reserve  and  used  little  by  little 
throughout  each  phrase  as  the  expression  demanded. 
This  shows  clearly  the  problem  of  breath  control. 

When  a  knowledge  of  how  the  breath  may  be  controlled 
and  of  the  function  of  the  various  organs  of  breathing  has 
been  acquired,  there  remains  only  the  proper  development 
of  these  organs  so  as  to  secure  their  greatest  efficiency 
for  purposes  of  speech.  For  the  public  speaker  the  prime 
essential  is  the  ability  to  control  the  muscles  of  expiration. 
The  speaker  who  is  always  short  of  breath  does  not 
understand  this  very  important  principle.  Instead  of 
conserving  the  breath  by  using  it  little  by  little  as  his 
speaking  demands,  he  uses  it  prodigally  and  often  finds  it 
entirely  expended  in  the  midst  of  an  important  phrase. 
Then  he  must  stop  short  for  more  breath  or  else  call 
upon  his  reserve  of  tidal  air  to  complete  his  expression. 
This  is  very  common  with  schoolboys,  who  declaim  just 
as  many  words  as  they  are  able  to  utter  with  one  breath, 
then  lift  the  shoulders  high,  take  a  long,  deep  breath, 
and  proceed  again  in  the  same  manner.  In  order  to 
manage  the  breath  properly,  the  speaker  must  be  able  to 
take  it  in  quickly  at  the  natural  pauses  in  speech  and 
to  give  it  out  sparingly  by  means  of  the  restraint  exerted 
by  the  muscles  that  control  expiration.  This  can  be 
accomplished  by  the  practice  of  simple  exercises  that 
give  complete  control  of  the  breathing  muscles. 

I  have  purposely  avoided  giving  here  any  great  number 
of  detailed  exercises  for  securing  breath  control.  The 
exercises  are  limited  and  are  of  a  very  simple  nature. 


THE  BREATH  1 23 

They  are  arranged  in  a  graduated  series,  each  one  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  next.  They  should  be  used  in 
the  order  given,  and  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  gain 
a  mastery  of  each  step. 

In  youth  the  breathing  muscles  are  elastic  and  yield 
promptly  to  training.  This  fact  makes  practical  training 
by  means  of  breathing  exercises  particularly  profitable  for 
young  people  of  college  age.  Indeed,  students  are  often 
able  to  make  amazingly  rapid  progress  in  gaining  control 
of  their  breathing  muscles  when  the  work  is  done  con- 
scientiously. In  order  to  gain  the  best  results  two  things, 
however,  are  absolutely  essential : 

1.  A  clear  understanding  of  the  purpose  of  each  exer- 
cise and  how  it  is  to  be  used. 

2.  Consistent  daily  practice  until  complete  control  of 
the  muscles  is  gained. 

Half-hearted  practice  is  time  wasted.  Definite  results 
can  be  gained  only  by  practicing  the  exercises  with  care 
for  short  periods  and  at  regular  intervals.  A  few  minutes 
of  painstaking  practice  each  day,  preferably  at  a  time 
when  mind  and  body  are  alert,  will  bring  sure  and  certain 
results.  It  is  altogether  important  to  be  sure  that  the 
exercises  are  being  used  correctly ;  then  when  once  the 
right  conditions  have  been  established  they  should  be 
practiced  at  regular  intervals  until  abdominal  breathing 
becomes  a  habit. 

The  following  exercises,  if  practiced  with  a  clear  under- 
standing of  details,  will  be  found  entirely  adequate  for  the 
average  speaker.  The  student  who  has  any  serious  diffi- 
culty with  his  breathing  should  apply  to  his  instructor 
for  special  advice  and  direction. 


124  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  FOR  GAINING  BREATH  CONTROL 

Exercise  I.  Lie  flat  on  the  back  upon  a  sofa  or,  better 
still,  upon  the  floor,  with  the  head  on  the  same  level  as 
the  rest  of  the  body.  Let  the  palm  of  the  right  hand  rest 
upon  the  upper  chest  and  that  of  the  left  hand  upon  the 
front  wall  of  the  abdomen  just  at  the  waist  line.  In  this 
position  inhale  slowly  through  the  nose  for  about  eight 
seconds.  Then  open  the  mouth  and  exhale  slowly  for  an 
equal  length  of  time  with  an  aspirate  h  sound. 

Purpose.  To  establish  correct  abdominal  breathing  by 
gaining  expansion  at  the  center  of  the  body.  As  the 
breath  is  taken  slowly  into  the  lungs,  the  diaphragm 
should  push  against  the  viscera,  causing  a  bulging  outward 
at  the  waist  line.  If  the  student  finds  this  expansion  to  be 
at  the  point  where  the  right  hand  rests  upon  the  upper 
chest,  his  breathing  is  wrong.  The  exercise  should  be 
repeated  again  and  again  until  he  feels  a  definite  expansion 
at  the  waist  line. 

Exercise  II.  Sit  erect  in  a  chair  with  the  feet  flat  on 
the  floor.  Do  not  lean  against  the  back.  With  the  palm 
of  the  right  hand  upon  the  upper  chest  and  that  of  the 
left  hand  upon  the  front  wall  of  the  abdomen,  practice 
inhaling  and  exhaling  exactly  as  in  Exercise  I.  There 
must  be  positively  no  raising  of  the  shoulders  in  taking 
this  exercise.  If  the  student  is  uncertain  about  the  action 
of  the  shoulders,  he  should  sit  before  a  mirror  and  observe 
carefully  whether  the  shoulders  remain  in  one  position 
both  while  inhaling  and  while  exhaling.  When  this  has 
been  accomplished  the  exercise  should  be  repeated  in  a 
standing  position.  This  is  particularly  valuable,  since  it 
is  more  difficult  at  first  to  get  abdominal  expansion  in  a 
standing  than  in  a  sitting  or  lying  position. 


THE  BREATH  1 25 

Purpose.  To  establish  correct  abdominal  breathing  by 
carefully  avoiding  improper  action  of  the  upper  chest. 

Exercise  III.  Resume  the  sitting  position  used  in 
Exercise  II.  Inhale  slowly  till  the  lungs  are  comfortably 
full  of  air.  Retain  the  breath  for  five  seconds  and  exhale 
slowly  with  an  aspirate  h  sound.  Repeat  the  exercise,  hold- 
ing the  breath  ten  seconds,  then  fifteen,  and  then  twenty. 

Ptcrpose.  To  feel  the  gradual  contraction  of  the  dia- 
phragm during  inhalation  and  its  influence  upon  the 
abdominal  muscles,  also  the  definite  tension  of  the  dia- 
phragm while  the  breath  is  being  held  and  the  gradual 
relaxation  as  it  is  allowed  to  pass  out  of  the  lungs. 

Exercise  IV.  Retain  the  position  of  Exercise  III  and 
inhale  slowly  in  the  same  manner.  Hold  the  breath  for 
three  or  four  seconds.  Exhale  quickly  with  an  aspirate 
h  sound. 

Purpose.  To  feel  the  quick  action  of  the  diaphragm  as 
it  goes  back  to  its  normal  place  after  being  held  down  in 
a  tense  position  for  several  seconds. 

Exercise  V.  Same  position  as  in  Exercise  IV.  Inhale 
quickly.  Exhale  slowly  with  a  very  gradual  relaxation  of 
the  diaphragm. 

Purpose.  To  make  the  diaphragm  relax  very  slowly  and 
steadily  as  the  air  passes  out  of  the  lungs.  This  exercise 
is  of  the  greatest  imjDortance,  as  the  conditions  are  the 
same  as  in  speaking,  and  it  makes  necessary  complete 
control  of  the  muscles  of  exhalation.  The  first  four  exer- 
cises prepare  the  way  gradually  for  this  one.  The  exercise 
should  be  practiced  carefully  many  times  until  the  ability 
to  take  in  breath  quickly  and  give  it  up  sparingly,  as  is 
necessary  in  speaking,  becomes  a  habit.  The  essential 
thing  is  to  be  able  to  control  the  breath  in  this  way 
unconsciously. 


126  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Exercise  VI.  Same  position  as  in  Exercise  V.  Inhale 
slowly.  Exhale  with  quick  unvocalized  impulses  of  short 
a-e-i-o-u  (that  is,  pronouncing  ^  as  in  ''at,"  ^  as  in  ''end," 
i  as  in  "it,"  o  as  in  "on,"  tc  as  in  "us"),  pausing  a 
second  or  two  after  each  impulse. 

Purpose.  To  gain  control  of  the  diaphragm,  as  is  neces- 
sary in  vigorous  speaking.  After  the  student  becomes  able 
to  use  the  diaphragm  with  sharp  aspirate  impulses  upon 
short  vowel  sounds,  the  exercise  may  be  used  in  different 
ways,  as : 

1 .  Repeating  the  exercise  by  vocalizing  short  a-eri-o-u. 

2.  Substituting  for  short  vowel  sounds  the  numerals 
1-2-3-4-5. 

3f  Reading  or  reciting  passages  of  a  vigorous  nature  that 
require  a  sharp  action  of  the  muscles  of  expiration. 

4.  Using  the  same  exercises  in  a  standing  position, 
employing  all  the  conditions  of  breath  control  that  are 
necessary  for  an  effective  public  speech. 


CHAPTER  VI 
ENUNCIATION 

After  the  student  has  gained  control  of  the  muscles 
that  regulate  his  breathing  and  is  able  to  use  his  breath 
economically,  he  will  naturally  turn  his  attention  to  the 
chief  end  for  which  this  control  has  been  sought,  namely, 
clear  and  distinct  speaking.  This  is  commonly  known  as 
enunciation.  We  find  that  enunciation  and  pronunciation 
are  generally  used  synonymously.  It  is  true  that  they 
are  so  closely  allied  that  for  practical  purposes  they  can 
hardly  be  separated,  yet  each  has  a  certain  significance 
that  should  be  understood. 

Enunciation  and  pronunciation  defined.  Pronunciation, 
in  its  strictest  sense,  is  the  correctness  with  which  articu- 
late sounds  are  uttered;  while  enunciation,  according  to 
Webster,  is  the  *'  mode  of  utterance  or  pronunciation, 
especially  as  regards /^///w^j-j-  and  distinctness  of  articula- 
tion." For  example,  "get"  called  ''git";  "tremendous," 
"  tremenjus  "  ;  "  address V  "  ad'dress  "  ;  and  "  film," 
"  fillum "  are  matters  of  correctness,  or  pronunciation. 
While  in  cases  in  which  the  sounds  are  all  correctly 
given,  the  accent  properly  placed,  and  the  syllables  cor- 
rectly divided,  and  yet  in  which  the  utterance  so  lacks 
in  clearness  that  the  general  effect  upon  the  ear  is  that 
of  a  blurring  of  sounds,  it  is  a  matter  of  fullness  and 
distinctness,  or  enunciation.    And  this,  as  we  shall  see, 

127 


128  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

applies  not  only  to  individual  words  but  very  often  to 
one's  entire  mode  of  utterance. 

Clear  enunciation  is  one  of  the  most  important  con- 
siderations of  the  speaker.  If  his  speaking  is  to  be  thor- 
oughly effective,  he  must  be  able  to  speak  not  only  with 
correctness  but  also  with  fullness  and  distinctness.  There 
are  many  faults  of  the  public  speaker  that  will  be  over- 
looked, but  the  one  that  is  unpardonable  is  not  to  be  heard. 
In  fact,  there  is  little  that  is  worse  in  public  speech  than 
.slipshod  utterance.  What  is  so  satisfying  to  an  audience 
as  a  mode  of  utterance  that  is  always  so  full  and  distinct 
that  it  gives  pleasure  to  the  hearer  and  is  easily  heard 
in  any  part  of  an  auditorium  whether  holding  five  hundred 
or  five  thousand  people } 

The  causes  of  poor  enunciation.  The  causes  of  poor 
enunciation  are  numerous.  Sometimes  there  are  defects 
of  the  articulating  organs  that  make  it  impossible  to  utter 
articulate  sounds  with  distinctness,  and  s  becomes  eth, 
th  becomes  d,  and  the  like.  Difficulties  of  this  kind,  even 
though  due  to  physical  defects,  can  in  some  cases  be  over- 
come by  the  practice  of  exercises  of  the  right  kind ;  while 
in  others  the  skill  of  a  surgeon  is  required  before  good 
enunciation  is  possible.  Then  again  it  is  ignorance  of 
what  the  enunciation  should  be  that  is  the  cause  of  the 
defect,  as  with  persons  whose  enunciation  is  boorish  be- 
cause they  have  never  known  anything  more  refined.  Or 
it  may  be  due  chiefly  to  imperfect  control  of  the  breath. 
But  in  a  very  great  many  cases,  if  not  in  the  majority  of 
them,  it  is  sheer  carelessness.  Probably  most  persons  who 
speak  with  the  mouth  not  more  than  half  open,  who  chop 
off  their  syllables,  or  who  mumble  half  under  the  breath, 


ENUNCIATION  1 29 

do  so  because  they  have  never  taken  the  pains  to  speak 
any  other  way.  Surely  the  speaker  who  said,  '*My  tex' 
may  be  foun'  in  the  fif  an'  six'  verses  of  the  secon'  chap- 
ter of  Titus ;  an'  the  su'jec'  of  my  discourse  is  the 
Gov'ment  of  ar  Homes  "  had  no  other  excuse  for  his 
slovenly  mode  of  enunciation  than  that  of  carelessness. 

There  is  no  excuse  for  anyone  (if  he  is  without  vocal 
defect)  who  fails  to  enunciate  in  a  distinct,  clean-cut 
fashion  that  is  pleasing  to  listen  to.  Perfect  enunciation 
is  one  of  the  most  priceless  possessions  that  a  speaker 
can  have,  and  it  is  one  that  any  speaker  may  have  if  he 
is  willing  to  do  the  work  necessary  to  gain  it. 

The  foundation  of  good  enunciation.  We  have  seen 
how  the  vocal  cords  stand  passively  at  the  top  of  the 
trachea  ready  to  be  played  upon  like  the  strings  of  a 
musical  instrument.  We  have  seen  also  how  the  stream 
of  breath  may  be  applied  to  them  in  such  a  way  that 
only  breathy,  half-vocalized  tones  result,  or  how  it  may 
be  so  applied  that  each  tone  produced  is  full,  rich,  and  ^ 
possessed  of  good  carrying  power.  But  a  clear,  carrying 
tone  will  not  insure  good  enunciation.  It  is  altogether 
desirable,  but  something  more  is  necessary.  Perfect  enun- 
ciation depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  this  clear  tone 
when  produced  is  applied  to  individual  sounds  or  syllables 
by  the  articulating  organs,  the  aim  being  at  all  times  to 
gain  fullness  and  distinctness  of  utterance.  This  makes 
it  necessary  to  understand  something  of  the  elementary 
sounds  of  our  language  and  of  the  organs  that  are  em- 
ployed in  the  enunciating  process.  A  clear  idea  of  this 
may  be  gained  from  the  system  of  Alexander  Melville  Bell, 
which  we  take  up  later  in  this  chapter. 


130  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

We  find  that  it  is  the  abiUty  to  adjust  the  organs  to 
the  right  positions  and  to  use  them  properly  that  deter- 
mines the  quahty  of  one's  enunciation.  The  thick-tongued 
speaker  in  uttering  the  sound  of  /  has  no  agihty  of  the 
tongue,  and  the  result  is  t  enunciated  as  though  it  were 
th-ee.  Another  may  not  have  the  control  of  the  organs 
necessary  to  formulate  s  sounds.  Instead  of  using  the 
teeth  as  a  kind  of  sieve  for  the  breath,  he  slightly  thrusts 
the  tongue  between  them,  so  that  **yes,  sir"  becomes 
"  yeth,  thir  "  ;  ''  sixteen,"  ''  thixteen  "  ;  *'  seventy-six," 
**  theventy-thix." 

In  the  case  of  persons  who  have  no  vocal  defects,  but 
merely  loose  vocal  habits,  it  is  necessary  to  gain  control 
over  those  organs  that  are  not  accustomed  to  function 
properly  before  definite  improvement  in  enunciation  is 
possible.  But  almost  everyone  who  enunciates  poorly 
does  so,  not  because  of  weakness  of  the  organs  or  of 
inability  to  use  them  but,  as  has  already  been  suggested, 
because  of  ignorance  of  what  good  enunciation  should 
be  or  because  of  mere  lax  habits  of  speech. 

Good  enunciation  does  not  imply  loudness.  Some  peo- 
ple have  a  vague  idea  that  they,  are  speaking  clearly  if 
they  make  a  great  deal  of  noise;  so  they  use  big,  bluster- 
ing tones,  with  occasional  shouts  for  emphasis,  and  believe 
their  speaking  to  be  effective.  Indeed,  there  seems  to  be 
no  more  common  misconception  among  untrained  speak- 
ers than  that  all  speaking,  in  order  to  be  effective,  must 
be  loud.  They  do  not  seem  to  understand  that  loud 
speaking  that  is  merely  a  vociferous  garble  of  sounds  is 
no  better  than  quiet  speaking  of  the  same  kind  —  in  fact, 
that  it  is  even  worse.    Neither  employs  good  enunciation, 


ENUNCIATION  131 

and  the  former  is  usually  the  more  objectionable  inasmuch 
as  it  is  harder  on  those  who  have  to  listen  to  it. 

A  striking  example  of  this  occurred  not  long  ago  in 
an  intercollegiate  debate.  The  speaker  used  a  tone  of 
voice  that  was  loud  enough  to  have  easily  filled  a  room 
four  times  the  size  of  the  one  in  which  he  was  speaking. 
He  spoke  at  a  terrific  rate,  and  his  syllables  and  words 
were  so  slurred  and  blurred  that  the  impression  made  by 
his  delivery  was  that  of  one  continuous  "sputter."  From 
all  appearances  he  seemed  to  think  that  his  speaking  was 
tremendously  effective.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  audi- 
ence, however,  the  speech  was  an  almost  complete  failure, 
for  it  was  only  with  much  effort  that  they  were  able  to 
follow  even  the  drift  of  his  talk. 

If  public  speakers  could  all  be  made  to  understand  that 
loud  speaking  is  not  necessarily  clear  speaking,  there 
would  be  vastly  more  effective  public  speaking  than  there 
is  at  the  present  time. 

The  important  thing  is  not  loitdness  but  distinctness. 
This  is  clearly  shown  by  the  work  of  the  actor  who  trains 
himself  until  his  enunciation  is  brought  to  such  a  degree 
of  perfection  that  his  most  quiet  word,  even  though  it  be 
a  whisper,  can  be  heard  distinctly  throughout  the  largest 
theater.  The  public  speaker  does  not  ordinarily  need  to 
acquire  as  great  skill  in  employing  delicate  shades  of  tone 
and  color  as  does  the  actor,  but  he  should  by  all  means 
cultivate  a  distinctness  that  is  satisfying  to  the  audience 
and  a  refinement  of  articulation  that  is  pleasing. 

In  this,  as  in  most  other  things  that  the  speaker  rnust 
give  attention  to,  ''Sunday  manners"  are  not  of  much  con- 
sequence if  he  is  slovenly  all  the  rest  of  the  week.    The 


132  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

person  who  is  indifferent  to  his  enunciation  in  his  every- 
day mode  of  speech  will  be  likely  to  speak  very  much 
the  same  when  he  appears  in  public.  If  good  enuncia- 
tion is  to  be  cultivated  at*  all,  it  must  be  employed  in  all 
speaking,  whether  public  or  private,  so  that  clear  speak- 
ing becomes  a  habit.  It  can  never  be  used  successfully 
as  an  ornament  merely  for  special  occasions.  It  should 
be  made  rather  a  very  useful,  everyday  tool,  that  will  be 
of  great  service  in  ordinary  conversation  as  well  as  in 
formal  public  address. 

Common  faults  of  enunciation.  Two  common  faults  of 
enunciation  are  that  of  the  lax  and  that  of  the  overprecise 
—  the  ''  don't  care  "  style  and  the  ''  affected  "  style.  The 
one  is  a  careless,  slipshod  mode  of  utterance  which  gives 
no  attention  to  any  sound  that  does  not  find  its  way 
out  of  the  mouth  easily.  Many  sounds  and  syllables  are 
slurred  over,  elided,  or  even  dropped  out  altogether.  For 
instance,  *' question"  becomes  '*  kwesyun  "  ;  "generally," 
"  gene'lly  "  ;  *'  particularly,"  ''partic'ly  "  ;  "  government," 
''gov'ment";  ''gentleman,"  ''gen'lman";  ''geography," 
""j'ogerfy." 

The  other,  the  overprecise  mode  of  enunciation,  goes 
to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  every  sound  and  syllable  is 
made  to  stand  out  with  a  prominence  that  is  almost  pain- 
ful to  listen  to.  In  this  there  is  no  lazy  slurring,  but, 
what  is  quite  as  objectionable,  each  syllable  is  made  to 
stand  out  as  baldly  as  the  articulating  organs  can  make 
it,  thus:  "gen^er^aFlyV  "  par' tic' uMarMy',"  "  com'- 
pet'i'tor',"  "  dif  fer' ent',"  "  ob' jec' tion' a' ble'."  The 
speaker  enunciates  as  if  it  were  necessary  to  give  to  every 
syllable  a  special  stress  and  an  equal  prominence  to  all. 


ENUNCIATION  133 

This  cannot  but  be  offensive  to  the  ear.  In  fact,  it  is 
even  more  objectionable  than  the  careless  mode  of  utter- 
ance, for  it  not  only  violates  the  principle  of  economy 
of  attention  but  is  a  form  of  affectation  that,  to  most 
people,  is  disgusting. 

The  aim  in  attempting  to  acquire  good  enunciation 
should  be  to  avoid  either  of  these  two  extremes,  and  to 
use  a  pleasing  medium  that  will  impress  the  ear  of  the 
listener  as  being  neither  loose  nor  overdone,  but  just 
what  cultivated  speech  should  be. 

The  same  principle  true  of  the  enunciation  of  consecu- 
tive words.  It  is  necessary  to  exercise  the  same  care  in 
securing  distinctness  in  the  utterance  of  consecutive  words 
as  of  sounds  and  syllables.  The  enunciation  of  several 
words  by  "  chewing  up  "  the  syllables,  as  if  it  were  almost 
a  single  word  that  the  speaker  is  trying  to  utter,  is  very 
common.  Who  has  not  heard,  "  Won'  che  go .? "  for 
"  Won't  you  go  .?  "  "  I  don'  know  "  for  "  I  don't  know  "  ; 
'*  Wha'  che  goin'  a  do .?  "  for  ''  What  are  you  going  to 
do .? "  Then  there  is  the  other  extreme,  in  which  the 
enunciation  is  so  overdone  that  the  words  are  not  merely 
well  separated  but  are  each  followed  by  an  affected  ah 
sound.  Thus  we  hear,  ''  Won't-ah  you-ah  go-ah }  "  ''  I 
don't-ah  know-ah." 

Choppy  and  lazy  modes  of  utterance.  Along  with  this 
are  two  similar  extremes:  that  of  the  speaker  who  snaps 
off  words  and  phrases  with  an  abruptness  that  greatly 
annoys  one  after  listening  to  it  for  a  short  time,  and 
that  of  the  speaker  who  drags  his  utterance  till  the 
monotony  of  his  speech  seriously  affects  one's  interest 
in  what  he  is  saying.    The  first  fault  arises  not  from 


134  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

the  speaker's  attempt  to  enunciate  well,  but  rather  from 
a  fixed  habit  of  choppy  speech.  With  some  people  it  is 
a  matter  of  abrupt  pronunciation  of  individual  words,  with 
little  regard  for  their  quantity,  meaning,  or  position  in 
the  sentence;  with  others  it  is  an  abruptness  occurring 
at  the  end  of  almost  every  phrase  with  a  regularity  that 
is  decidedly  detrimental  to  the  thought. 

The  second  fault  is  the  result  of  a  lazy  use  of  the 
organs  of  articulation.  There  is  no  sharpness  of  contact 
of  tongue,  teeth,  or  lips,  which  is  so  essential  to  good 
articulation.  Many  individual  sounds  are  unduly  pro- 
longed, and  we  hear  for  ''  liberty,"  ''  libert-e-e "  ;  for 
''  nation,"  ''  nation-n-n  "  ;  and  sometimes  it  is  a  similar 
dragging  of  syllables  and  words,  until  the  monotony 
becomes  almost  intolerable. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  which  of  these  faults  is  the 
more  objectionable.  Lazy  speech  is  always  tiresome,  and 
choppy  speech  becomes  after  a  time  no  less  monotonous. 
It  strikes  the  ear  with  a  harsh  regularity  that  is  often 
harder  to  listen  to  than  dragging  tones,  which  have,  at 
least,  the  virtue  of  a  somewhat  soothing  effect. 

A  mode  of  enunciation  that  is  overprecise  or  lax, 
choppy  or  slow,  is  usually  a  fixed  habit  that  requires  the 
same  persistent  effort  to  eradicate  as  does  an  improper 
habit  of  breathing  or  vocalization,  and  one  to  which  nearly 
every  student  of  speaking  needs  to  give  some  attention. 
The  beginner  who  employs  thoroughly  good  enunciation 
is  rare.  There  is  usually  a  laxness,  slowness,  or  "  choppi- 
ness  "  of  speech  that  has  to  be  overcome  by  careful  prac- 
tice of  some  kind.  In  the  case  of  very  bad  habits  that 
have  been  long  fixed,  hard  work  for  weeks,  and  sometimes 


ENUNCIATION  135 

for  months,  upon  definite  exercises  is  necessary.  In 
other  cases  just  the  effort  taken  to  enunciate  distinctly, 
both  in  public  speech  and  in  conversation,  is  all  that  is 
needed.  But  every  beginner  should  give  the  same  careful 
attention  to  distinct  enunciation  that  he  would  give  to 
correct  breathing,  if  necessary.  It  is  altogether  essential 
to  effective  speaking. 

How  to  acquire  good  enunciation.  The  first  step  toward 
securing  good  enunciation  is  to  learn  to  open  the  mouth. 
The  utterance  of  sounds  and  syllables  with  stiff  jaws  gives 
little  freedom,  either  to  the  organs  with  which  the  tone 
is  produced  or  to  those  with  which  the  tone  is  molded 
into  syllables.  They  are  more  or  less  cramped,  and  the 
speaker  labors  under  very  apparent  difficulty.  All  of  this 
has  to  be  obviated  by  getting  the  mouth  open  and  giving 
the  different  organs  an  opportunity  to  act.  Let  the  stu- 
dent attempt  to  speak  with  jaws  tense  and  teeth  close 
together  and  then  with  jaws  free  and  the  mouth  well 
open,  and  he  will  at  once  see  the  necessity  of  opening 
the  mouth  for  speaking.  If  he  has  a  noticeably  stiff  jaw 
definite  exercises  may  be  necessary.  Then  when  there 
is  freedom  of  all  the  organs  that  play  a  part  in  the 
articulating  process,  it  is  well  to  train  them  in  producing 
the  various  individual  sounds. 

Exercises  in  the  utterance  of  individual  sounds  are  of 
much  value  in  rounding  out  and  giving  a  certain  finish 
to  one's  enunciation.  And  then  enunciation  may  be 
further  improved  by  the  practice  of  exercises  in  which 
all  the  sounds  are  employed.  Careful  enunciation  of 
the  vowel  sounds  and  of  the  vowels  and  consonants  in 
combination  will  accomplish  this  end. 


136 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


The  classification  of  vowel  sounds  made  by  Professor 
Alexander  Melville  Bell  is  the  most  authoritative  and 
probably  the  best  suited  for  the  cultivation  of  enunciation 
by  means  of  the  free  and  open  elements  of  our  language. 

Bell's  Vowel  Chart 


Height  of 
Tongue 

Back  of  Tongue 

Middle  of 
Tongue 

Front  of 
Tongue 

Muscular 

Action  of 

Tongue 

High 

oo  —  pool 
00  —  pull 

e  — eel 
i  — ill 

Tense 
Lax 

Medium 

0  —  pole 

u  — dull 

a  —  ask 

a  —  ale 
e  — ell 

Ten^p 
Lax 

Low 

a  —  awl 
0  — doll 

a  —  ah 

e  —  err 

a  —  air 
a  —  an 

Tense 
Lax 

In  order  to  gain  an  exact  muscular  impression  of  each 
vowel  sound,  there  should  be  for  each  a  definite  forma- 
tion of  the  articulatory  organs  and  an  attempt  to  observe 
just  how  each  sound  is  formed,  whether  by  the  front, 
middle,  or  back  of  the  tongue.  Then  the  sounds  may 
be  practiced  in  combinations,  thus  : 

ah  —  an  —  ale  —  eel  —  pool  —  pull  —  pole  —  awl  —  ah 

Attention  should  be  given  in  this  practice  to  three 
things  : 

I.  Practice  in  combinations  of  this  kind  should  begin 
and  end  with  a  low-position  vowel. 


ENUNCIATION  137 

2.  An  attempt  should  not  be  made  to  do  the  principal 
work  of  enunciation  with  the  lower  jaw. 

3.  There  should  always  be  good  breath  support  for 
every  tone. 

The  practice  of  individual  sounds  should  include  also 
the  correct  formation  of  the  consonants  ;  and  it  is  usually 
advantageous  to  practice  vowels  and  consonants  in  com- 
bination. Clear  enunciation  of  consonant  sounds  depends 
upon  the  action  of  one  articulating  part  against  another. 
This  should  be  done  with  precision  and  yet  with  delicacy 
of  touch.  In  this  the  tongue  is  the  determining  factor, 
and  particular  attention  should  be  given  in  practice  of  this 
kind  to  its  cultivation.  It  should  be  rendered  free  and 
agile,  so  that  in  the  enunciatory  process  there  is  none  of 
the  thick-tongued  mode  of  utterance  common  with  un- 
trained and  slovenly  speakers.  Let  the  student  practice 
such  combinations  as  '' ah-ta-ta-ta,"  working  for  agility  of 
the  tongue  and  for  that  definiteness  and  yet  delicacy  of 
touch  which  is  characteristic  of  good  enunciation. 

When  a  mastery  has  been  gained  over  individual 
sounds,  their  use  as  they  are  combined  into  syllables 
should  be  given  attention.  All  syllables  have  a  certain 
individuality  that  cannot  be  disregarded  in  correct  utter- 
ance. When  they  are  jumbled  together  so  that  ''statistics" 
becomes  "  st'istics  "  ;  "correct,"  "  c'rect  "  ;  ''generally," 
"  gen'ly  "  ;  "really,"  "ree'ly,"  it  is  exceedingly  annoy- 
ing to  a  discriminating  ear.  Yet,  while  the  syllables  do 
have  an  individuality  that  makes  it  necessary  to  give  to 
each  a  certain  clear  and  definite  touch  with  the  voice,  it 
is  quite  as  important  to  remember  that  they  have  also  a 
relationship  that  makes  it  necessary  for  them  to  be  properly 


138  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

linked  together,  in  order  that  they  may  not  stand  out  in 
a  way  that  makes  the  joints  seem  to  be  always  protrud- 
ing. It  is  the  word  as  a  whole,  with  all  its  parts  clearly 
uttered  yet  carefully  linked,  that  must  always  be  the  ideal 
of  the  cultivated  speaker. 

Then  the  larger  groups,  the  words  as  they  are  com- 
bined into  phrases  and  clauses,  require  the  same  careful 
practice  in  distinct  utterance  as  do  the  individual  sounds 
and  syllables.  Consecutive  words  must  not  be  jumbled 
together  in  slovenly  fashion.  They  must  be  properly 
related,  while  at  the  same  time  retaining  their  individu- 
ality just  as  do  the  syllables  of  which  they  are  composed. 

The  speaker  who  is  anxious  to  perfect  his  enunciation 
will  do  well  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  clear  speaking 
is  a  matter  of  habit  more  than  anything  else  and  that, 
if  mastery  is  to  be  gained,  good  enunciation  must  be 
cultivated  and  employed  at  all  times  and  not  merely  for 
special  occasions.  This  is  a  matter  of  great  importance 
to  teachers  in  our  public  schools,  inasmuch  as  the  in- 
fluence of  the  teacher  over  the  pupils,  in  this  respect,  is 
very  great.  Pupils  are  likely  to  imitate  the  mode  of  utter- 
ance of  their  teachers,  and  often  excellent  enunciation  is 
gained  in  the  classroom  merely  by  imitating  a  teacher 
who  employs  at  all  times  clear  and  distinct  speech. 

The  commercial  importance  of  clear  speaking.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  the  emphasis  that  is  being  placed  upon 
clear  speaking  in  the  commercial  world  at  the  present 
time.  Recently  one  of  the  largest  business  houses  in  the 
country  issued  a  set  of  instructions  to  its  employees.  In 
these  instructions  one  demand  upon  which  great  stress 
was   laid   was   that  all   persons    employed   by  that   firm 


ENUNCIATION  1 39 

should  at  all  times  use  distinct  speech.  It  was  made  im- 
perative that  customers  should  not  be  annoyed  by  clerks 
who  could  not  be  heard  across  the  counter  or  whose 
replies  to  inquiries  over  the  telephone  were  always  indis- 
tinct and  unsatisfactory ;  in  short,  that  every  employee 
who  expected  to  hold  his  place  with  that  firm  should  at 
all  times  employ  clear  and  businesslike  speech. 

We  find  that  the  demand  for  clear  speaking  is  found 
in  nearly  every  commercial  field  at  the  present  time. 
Employees  are  rapidly  coming  to  realize  its  value,  and 
those  who  seek  positions  of  responsibility  soon  discover 
how  important  it  is  as  a  commercial  asset.  No  longer  is 
it  possible  for  persons  in  responsible  positions  to  speak  in 
"just  any  way  that  it  happens."  Conditions  are  now  such 
that  they  demand  clear  and  effective  speech,  and  this  neces- 
sitates a  mastery  of  the  principles  of  good  enunciation. 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  IN  ENUNCIATION 

Individual  Sounds 

Exercise  I.  Work  for  a  definite  muscular  impression 
of  each  vowel  sound  by  means  of  such  combinations  as 
the  following  from  Bell's  vowel  chart  : 

1 .  ah  —  ale  —  eel  —  pool  —  pole  —  awl. 

2.  awl  —  pole  —  pool  —  eel  —  ale  —  ah. 

3.  awl  —  pull  —  pool  —  eel  —  ill  —  ale  —  ell  —  air. 

4.  ah  —  an  —  ell  —  ale  —  ill  —  eel  —  pool  —  pull  —  pole 
—  awl  —  ah. 

5.  ah-ah-ah-o-o-o-e-e-e-o-o-o-ah-ah-ah. 

e-e-e 
0-0-0  0-0-0 

6.  ah  -  ah  -  ah  ah  -  ah  -  ah. 


140  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Exercise  II.    Work  for  precise  and  delicate  touch  on 
the  following  vowel  and  consonant  combinations. 


3.    tah  —  dah 


ah- 

-  ta-ta-ta 

ah- 

- ba-ba-ba 

ah- 
ah- 

-  pa-pa-pa 

-  ka-ka-ka 

ah- 

-  pa-ta-ka 

ah- 

- ka-pa-ta 

ah- 

- da-ba-ga 

ah- 

-  ga-ba-da 

ah- 

-  ta-ta-ta  — 

tar 

ah- 

- ka-ka-ka - 

-kar 

ah- 
ah- 

-  pa-pa-pa  - 
- ba-ba-ba  - 

—  par 

—  bar 

ah- 

-  da-da-da  - 

-dar 

ah- 

-  fa-fa-fa  — 

-far 

ah- 

- na-na-na - 

—  nar 

ah- 

-  ma-ma-ma — mar 

-lah 

—  pah  —  bah  —  f  ah  —  vah  —  mah 

Syllables 


Exercise  III.  Enunciate  the  following  words,  bring- 
ing out  each  individual  syllable  distinctly,  yet  linking 
them  all  properly. 

I .  The  following  are  dependent  upon  teeth  and  tongue : 
accredited,  education,  stupendous,  tremendous,  credulous, 

arduous, 
thither,   thence,  thine,  thin,   throne,  writhe,  wreath,   tithe, 

booth,    scythe,    with,    though,    blithe,    aesthetic,    athletic, 

mathematics, 
persist,  cease,  decease,  effervesce,  resuscitate,  reminiscent, 

statistics,  statistician,  schism,  scenic,  height. 


ENUNCIATION  141 

seize,  quiz,  disease,  chasm,  casualty,  casual,  casuistry,  azure, 
leisure. 

2.  The  following  require  definite  action  of  the  tongue : 
parallel,  eligible,  all,  law,  lawful,  lawless,  lowly,  lily,  lilting, 

elegant,  liable, 
error,  rare,  horror,  mirror,  rarely,  mirroring,  wither,  whither. 

3.  The  following  require  precision  of  the  lips  and  teeth : 
support,  supplant,  purport,  perplex,  poplar,  popular,   pul- 
pit,   people,    plump,    plumb,    plow,    probable,    probably, 
probability. 

being,   beaming,   ebony,   ebbing,    rubber,  rubbing,   robber, 

rabid,  corroborate,  proper,  proposition,  biblical, 
vivid,  vivacity,  vivacious,  irreverent,  irrelevant,  dive,  divide, 

divisible,  revival, 
fifth,   effort,   nymph,   fifteenth,   fiftieth,    triumph,    physical, 

effervescent, 
witch,  which,   whist,  what,  wheat,  whole,   thwart,   unholy, 

wholesome,  wholesale. 

4.  In  the  following  the  palate  and  throat  play  an  important 
part : 

judge,  edge,  ridge,  jug,  egg,  go,  get,  give,  dirigible,  prejudice, 
jugular. 

choir,  chorus,  quarrel,  querulous,  curious,  pique,  quick, 
exquisite,  creak,  asked,  kept,  tact,  attacked,  cracked, 
skate,  chick,  cheek. 

5.  In  the  following  the  nasal  cavities  have  an  important 
influence : 

mammal,    animal,   memorable,    murmur,    mimic,    emblem, 

mechanic,  romantic, 
knowledge,  known,  knead,  king,  hang,  lung,  going,  arctic, 

article,  articulate. 


142  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Words  and  Combinations  of  Words 

Enunciate  the  following  sentences  with  careful  atten- 
tion to  consecutive  words. 

1 .  Sink  or  swim ;  live  or  die ;  survive  or  perish ;  I  give 
my  heart  and  my  hand  to  this  vote.  (Avoid  saying,  "  Sink'er 
swim  ;  liv'er  die ;  serviv'er  perish.") 

2.  What  will  he  do .?    When  will  he  go  ? 

3.  I  am  glad  that  my  weak  words  have  struck  but  thus 
much  show  of  fire  from  Brutus. 

4.  Rich  gifts  wax  poor  when  givers  prove  unkind. 

5.  Speak  the  speech,  I  pray  you,  as  I  pronounced  it  to  you, 
trippingly  on  the  tongue ;  but  if  you  mouth  it,  as  many  of 
your  players  do,  I  had  as  lief  the  town-crier  spoke  my  lines. 

6.  They  met  me  in  the  day  of  success ;  and  I  have 
learned  by  the  perfectest  report,  they  have  more  in  them 
than  mortal  knowledge. 

7.  That  but  this  blow 
Might  be  the  be-all  and  the  end-all  here, 
But  here,  upon  the  bank  and  shoal  of  time, 
We  'Id  jump  the  life  to  come. 

8.  Better  be  with  the  dead, 

Whom  we,  to  gain  our  peace,  have  sent  to  peace, 
Than  on  the  torture  of  the  mind  to  lie 
In  restless  ecstasy. 

9.  Things  bad  begun  make  strong  themselves  by  ill. 
10.  My  way  of  life 

Is  fall'n  into  the  sear,  the  yellow  leaf ; 
And  that  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honour,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends, 
I  must  not  look  to  have ;  but,  in  their  stead 
Curses,  not  loud  but  deep,  mouth-honour,  breath. 
Which  the  poor  heart  would  fain  deny,  and  dare  not. 


CHAPTER  VII 
PRONUNCIATION 

The  importance  of  correct  pronunciation  for  the  edu- 
cated person  cannot  be  overestimated.  In  pubHc  speaking 
it  is  indispensable,  for  the  mispronunciation  of  a  few 
common  words  which  everyone  ought  to  know  marks 
the  speaker  at  once  as  either  deficient  in  scholarship  or 
slovenly  in  method.  No  fault  of  the  public  speaker  is 
more  readily  observed  or  more  severely  condemned  by  an 
intelligent  audience  than  that  of  careless  pronunciation. 

The  student  of  speaking  cannot  be  too  painstaking  in 
perfecting  himself  on  this  side  of  the  work.  He  should 
exercise  the  same  care  with  his  pronunciation  in  speaking 
that  he  would  with  his  spelling  or  punctuation  in  writing. 
Indeed,  those  who  will  judge  him  by  his  spelling  or 
punctuation  will  likely  be  few  compared  with  those  who 
will  pass  judgment  upon  him  by  the  way  in  which  he 
pronounces  common  English  words.  It  behooves  him, 
therefore,  to  become  as  proficient  as  possible  in  his 
pronunciation. 

Pronunciation  defined.  Pronunciation  is  the  correct 
utterance  of  words   in   four   particulars : 

1.  Correctness  of  the  vowel  sounds,  as  "get,"  not 
"git";    "since,"    not   "sence." 

2.  Correctness  of  the  consonant  sounds,  as  "  profuse," 
not  "profuze";  "exit,"  not  "  egzit." 

143 


144  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

3.  Correct  division  of  words  into  syllables,  as  ''  vow  el," 
not  ''vow'l";  "elm,"  not  ''ellum." 

4.  Correct  placing  of  the  accent,  as  *' entire  V  not 
"en'tire";  '^or^deal,"  not  '' orde'al." 

If  words  are  properly  uttered  in  these  four  respects, 
the  pronunciation  is  perfect.  But  how  rarely  do  we  hear 
a  speaker  who  is  able  to  pronounce  with  accuracy  even 
the  common  words  of  our  language ! 

The  writer  recalls  having  heard  a  Chautauqua  lecture 
by  a  member  of  Congress,  and  having  been  surprised  to 
hear  the  speaker  in  the  course  of  an  hour's  address  mis- 
pronounce no  less  than  a  score  of  common  words  that 
every  schoolboy  ought  to  know.  Such  instances  as  this 
lead  one  to  believe  that  the  educator  was  right  who  de- 
clared pronunciation  to  be  the  most  neglected  subject  of 
education.  Surely,  if  anyone  ought  to  give  careful  attention 
to  pronunciation,  it  is  the  public  speaker,  whose  utterance 
is  subject  constantly  to  the  criticism  of  his  audience. 

The  principle  of  the  economy  of  attention,  set  forth  by 
Herbert  Spencer  in  his  ''  Philosophy  of  Style,"  is  altogether 
important  for  the  public  speaker.  The  aim  of  the  speaker 
should  be,  in  the  parlance  of  the  actor,  '*  to  get  his  thought 
across  "  with  the  least  possible  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
listener.  The  importance  of  this  principle  in  pronunciation 
is  obvious.  If  the  speaker  pronounces  words  incorrectly, 
it  is  more  or  less  annoying  to  his  hearers,  as  it  uncon- 
sciously draws  attention  from  his  message  to  the  mechani- 
cal form  by  which  that  message  is  being  conveyed,  thus 
violating  the  very  important  principle  of  economy  of 
the  listener's  attention.  The  speaker  must  remember 
that  pronunciation  is  merely  one  of  the  instruments  for 


PRONUNCIATION  145 

conveying  thought,  and  that  whatever  calls  the  attention 
of  the  hearer  away  from  the  thought  to  the  instrument 
is  objectionable. 

The  aim  of  the  public  speaker  should  be  always  to 
pronounce  with  accuracy  and  careful  discrimination,  but 
never  to  be  so  precise  as  to  seem  affected  or  pedantic. 
Such  overnice  pronunciation  as  ''picture"  pronounced 
"pict-ure";  "virtue,"  *Wirt-ue";  "fortune,"  "fort-une," 
with  each  syllable  given  an  affected  prominence,  is  always 
more  or  less  disconcerting  to  an  audience,  and  is  as  much 
to  be  avoided  as  the  careless  forms  "picher,"  "virchoo," 
"  forchoon."  Neither  the  overdone  nor  the  slovenly 
manner  of  pronunciation,  but  a  pleasing  medium  between 
these  two  extremes,  is  the  ideal. 

Moreover,  mispronunciation,  especially  the  mispronun- 
ciation of  ever}'day  words,  always  tends  to  lower  the 
speaker  in  the  estimation  of  his  audience.  They  feel  that 
it  is  the  business  of  the  public  speaker  to  know  good 
pronunciation  and  to  employ  it  in  his  work. 

Unusual  pronunciation  should  be  avoided.  Unusual  or 
striking  pronunciation  should,  as  a  rule,  be  avoided.  It 
has  the  same  distracting  effect  as  pronunciation  that  is 
wrong.  Some  speakers  apparently  take  a  peculiar  delight 
in  employing  novel  pronunciation  that  comes  as  a  kind 
of  shock  to  the  audience. 

A  justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  speak- 
ing on  one  occasion  before  a  highly  cultivated  audience, 
annoyed  his  hearers  by  repeatedly  pronouncing  the  word 
"  patriotism  "  with  the  short  sound  of  the  vowel  a,  as  in 
the  word  "pat,"  and  by  pronouncing  "Japan"  with  the 
accent  on  the  first  syllable,  "  Jap'an."    Even  if  there  were 


146  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

authority  for  such  usage,  inasmuch  as  the  majority  of  diction- 
aries and  most  well-informed  speakers  give  sanction  to  the 
pronunciation  of  ''  patriotism  "  with  the  long  sound  of  a,  as 
in  the  word''  pate,"  and  of  ''Japan"  with  the  accent  upon 
the  last  syllable,  it  would  be  unwise  for  one,  even  of  so 
high  place  as  a  Supreme  Court  justice,  to  use  a  form  so 
unusual  that  the  attention  of  the  audience  would  be  called 
to  it  every  time  it  was  pronounced. 

It  is  best  always  to  avoid  fads  and  to  follow  the  standard 
usage  of  the  day. 

The  best  usage  should  be  employed.  To  be  sure,  the 
best  usage  is  not  always  easy  to  determine,  since  pronun- 
ciation is  changing  constantly.  Every  new  edition  of  the 
best  lexicons  shows  many  changes,  and  more  than  that,  the 
dictionaries  that  are  regarded  as  standard  do  not  agree. 
This  goes  to  show  that  there  is  no  final  authority,  no 
last  word  in  pronunciation.  Yet  if  one  follows  the  rule 
of  relying  upon  such  authorities  as  Webster's  New  Inter- 
national Dictionary  and  the  Century,  one  cannot  go  far 
afield.  Indeed,  the  latest  editions  of  these  works  probably 
furnish  the  best  available  information  of  the  usage  of  rep- 
resentative speakers  at  the  present  time. 

Sectional  pronunciation.  The  student  is  often  perplexed 
to  find  that  a  word  is  pronounced*differently  in  the  North 
from  what  it  is  in  the  South,  and  that  there  are  marked 
differences  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  same  word  in 
the  East  and  in  the  West.  These  differences  are  chiefly 
of  two  kinds. 

First,  there  is  the  type  of  pronunciation  which  is 
purely  provincial,  that  is,  the  pronunciation  characteristic 
of  a  given  section  of  the  country.    For  instance,  in  the 


PRONUNCIATION  I47 

South  certain  sounds  of  a  and  e  are  improperly  changed 
to  an  i  sound.  Thus  we  hear  ''men,"  '*pen,"  "many," 
"whence,"  "fence,"  "thence,"  mispronounced  "  min," 
"pin,"  "minny,"  "whince,"  "fince,"  "thince."  In  some 
sections  of  the  Middle  West  we  hear  the  vowel  i  incor- 
rectly changed  to  the  vowel  ^,  and  "  dish,"  "  wish,"  "  fish," 
"condition,"  become  "  desh,"  "wesh,"  "fesh,"  "  conde- 
tion."  While  in  certain  parts  of  the  East  the  consonant  r 
\s>  improperly  added,  and  we  hear  "idea,"  "data,"  "draw," 
"law,"  mispronounced  "idear,"  "datar,"  "drawr,"  "lawr." 

These  pronunciations  are  chiefly  provincial  and  are 
unquestionably  wrong.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  good 
sectional  pronunciation  of  this  kind,  and  no  authority  or 
justification  for  its  use. 

The  second  difference  consists  of  certain  traits  of  utter- 
ance that  are  common  to  different  sections  of  the  country 
and,  like  the  provincial  pronunciation  that  we  have  just 
considered,  are  handed  down  as  a  kind  of  tradition  from 
generation  to  generation.  But  they  differ  from  the  former 
in  that  they  cannot  be  said  to  be  absolutely  wrong. 

These  may  be  well  illustrated  by  the  differences  exist- 
ing between  the  Southern  pronunciation  of  the  final  r 
sound  and  that  common  in  the  North ;  or  the  difference 
in  the  pronunciation  of  this  sound  as  between  the  East 
and  the  Middle  West.  These  are  differences  as  marked 
as  those  of  the  former  type,  and  yet  it  would  be  impossible 
to  say  that  any  one  of  them  is  right  and  the  others  wrong. 

It  would  be  utterly  futile  at  the  present  time  to  attempt 
to  standardize  provincialisms  of  this  kind.  Indeed,  there 
is  no  apparently  good  reason  why  they  should  be  stand- 
ardized.   It  would  unquestionably  destroy  much  of  the 


148  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

beauty  and  charm  of  Southern  speech  if  the  Southerner 
were  to  attempt  to  pronounce  his  final  rs  as  the  Northerner 
pronounces  them. 

The  distinction  that  needs  to  be  drawn  is  between  pro- 
nunciation where  it  is  clearly  a  case  of  right  and  wrong 
and  that  in  which  no  real  principle  of  pronunciation  is 
violated.  The  person  may  very  properly  continue  in  the 
use  of  the  pronunciation  that  he  has  been  ''  brought  up 
on  "  unless  it  violates  a  well-established  principle  of  good 
pronunciation,  in  which  case  he  should  by  all  means 
make  an  effort  to  overcome  the  fault. 

English  versus  American  pronunciation.  It  will  be 
noted  that  there  are  also  marked  differences  between  the 
pronunciation  in  the  United  States  and  in  other  English- 
speaking  countries.  This  causes  no  small  amount  of  per- 
plexity. The  English  ''  been,"  pronounced  with  the  sound 
of  e  as  in  ''seen,"  and  ''again"  pronounced  with  the 
sound  of  ai  in  "  main,"  are  not  in  good  use  in  the 
United  States ;  and  although  they  have  the  sanction  of 
the  dictionaries  that  are  authoritative  in  England,  they 
should  be  avoided  in  this  country,  inasmuch  as  English 
usage  does  not  furnish  a  standard  for  pronunciation  in 
the  United   States. 

The  aim  of  the  speaker  in  regard  to  pronunciation 
should  be : 

1.  To  inform  himself  thoroughly  of  the  pronunciation 
of  all  common  English  words  that  he  will  use  constantly 
in  speaking. 

2.  To  become  as  familiar  as  possible  with  the  pronun- 
ciation of  such  foreign  words,  proper  names,  and  technical 
terms  as  he  will  be  likely  to  use  in  his  public  speech. 


PRONUNCIATION  149 

Of  the  two,  the  first  is  of  vastly  greater  importance. 
Few  people  have  a  thorough  mastery  of  foreign  words, 
proper  names,  or  technical  terms.  There  may  be  some 
excuse  for  this,  but  there  is  little  excuse  for  any  educated 
person's  being  deficient  in  the  pronunciation  of  the 
common  words  of  our  language.  For  the  public  speaker 
a  complete  mastery  of  these  words  is  essential. 

How  to  become  proficient  in  pronunciation.  The  attempt 
to  gain  proficiency  in  pronunciation  may  be  greatly  facili- 
tated by  a  familiarity  with  the  diacritical  marks  that  are 
used  to  indicate  how  words  are  pronounced.  For  this 
purpose  different  lexicographers  employ  different  sym- 
bols, those  of  the  Standard  Dictionary  being  very  differ- 
ent from  those  of  Webster,  for  example.  It  is  rather 
awkward  to  be  obliged  to  consult  the  table  of  vowel  and 
consonant  symbols  in  order  to  determine  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  every  word.  It  is  desirable,  therefore,  that  one  be 
more  or  less  familiar  with  the  diacritical  marks  used  in 
different  dictionaries,  and  thus  avoid  much  annoyance 
and  unnecessary  time. 

In  the  following  treatment  of  errors  of  pronunciation, 
the  aim  is  not  to  give  lists  of  words  for  the  student 
to  memorize,  but  rather  to  present  in  clear  manner  the 
most  common  mispronunciations  of  the  ordinary  every- 
day words  that  we  all  use  constantly.  The  words  of  these 
lists  illustrate  mistakes  of  pronunciation  that  have  been 
observed  in  my  own  classes  during  the  past  ten  years. 
The  most  significant  thing  about  them  is  the  fact  that 
they  are  mispronounced  over  and  over  every  year  in 
almost  every  class,  which  goes  to  show  that  they  need 
special  attention  by  most  students. 


ISO  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  for  the  student  to  make 
a  systematic  attempt  to  learn  the  pronunciation  of  all  the 
words  of  these  lists.  They  are  placed  here  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  serve  to  accomplish  two  things : 

1.  To  call  attention  to  the  most  common  cases  of 
m  ispronunciation . 

2.  To  furnish  lists  that  will  prove  of  value  to  one  who 
desires  to  check  up  his  own  pronunciation. 

The  student  can  make  these  lists  very  practicable  by 
running  through  them  rapidly  and  checking  up  his  pror- 
nunciation,  noting  carefully  all  the  words  that  he  has 
been  accustomed  to  mispronounce.  In  this  way  he  can, 
in  a  very  short  time,  discover  his  own  weaknesses  in 
pronunciation,  and  do  more  to  improve  it  than  he  could 
accomplish  by  months  of  study  of  the  dictionary. 

In    making    a    study    of    pronunciation,    the    student 

should  keep  in  mind  the  four  essentials  laid  down  at  the 

beginning : 

Correct  vowel  sounds 

Correct  consonant  sounds 

Correct  accent 

Correct  division  of  words  into  syllables 

Common  errors  of  pronunciation  will  be  taken  up  and 
considered  under  each  of  these  four  heads.  Careful  at- 
tention should  be  given  to  the  principle  involved  in  each 
case.  It  is  helpful  to  observe  that  if  one  is  accustomed 
to  the  use  of  a  wrong  sound  in  one  word,  the  same 
error  is  almost  sure  to  occur  in  all  other  words  in  which 
that  sound  appears.  Thus  the  person  who  pronounces 
''  daughter  "  ''  dotter  "  will  in  all  probability  call  "  water  " 
''  wotter,"  and  so  on  throughout  his  entire  vocabulary. 


s 


PRONUNCIATION  1 5 1 

I.  Common  Errors  of  Pronunciation  due  to 
Incorrectness  of  Vowel  Sounds 

Misuses  of  the  sounds  of  "a" 

1.  Long  a  in  V  data"  mispronounced  short  a,  as  in 
"at."    This  error  is  common  also  in  the  following: 

apparatus  ignoramus  pathos 

chasten  implacable  status 

gratis  mandamus  sagacious 

2.  Long  a  in  '*say"  mispronounced  long  /,  as,  ''Did 

he  si  he  would  go  to-dt} "  -Y 

day  mate  ^ 

may  late 

way  wait 

3.  Short  a  in  "amicable,"  like  a  in  "am,"  mispro- 
nounced long  a,  as  in  "  aim." 

^    bade 
^  lamentable 

4.  Short  ^  in  "  land "  mispronounced  Italian  a,  as 
in  "arm."  This  is  usually  something  of  an  affectation. 
It  is  permissible  in  song  where  the  more  open  vowel  is 
desirable,  but  not  otherwise. 

^and  man 

grand  band 

hand  stand 


/  tion. 


In  some  words,  however,  this  error  is  not  an  affecta- 
but  a  common  mispronunciation,  as  in 

arrow  harrow  / 

narrow     '  barrel  "* 

sparrow  guarantee 


?<• 


152  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

5.  Short  a  in  ''catch"  mispronounced  short  e^  as  in 
fetch,"  resulting  in  the  unpleasant  pronunciation^' ketch." 

6.  Italian  ^  in  "  calm  "  mispronounced  short  ^,  as  in 
*'am,"  "calm"  thus  becoming  "cam." 

are  haunt 

\  drama  jaunt 

\  dahlia  psalm 

gaunt  stanch 

7.  The  sound  of  ^  in  "  was  "  mispronounced  short  u^ 
as  in  "buzz,"  '^was"  thus  becoming  "wuz." 

8.  Italian  a  in  "father"  mispronounced  broad  a^  as  in 
all,"  "father"  thus  becoming  "  fawther." 

gaunt 
Nhalf 
laugh 
launch 
stanch 


i 


9.  Broad  ^  in  "  daughter "  mispronounced  Italian  ^, 
^  daughter  "  thus  becoming  "  dotter." 

all  call  law 

audience  caught  taught 

\  because  daub  \  water 

10.  The  sound  of  a  in  open,  unaccented  syllables 
mispronounced  short  ?,  as  in  "ill,"  "extra"  thus  becom- 
ing "  extry."  This  pronunciation  is  common  particularly 
among  uneducated  people,  but  is  heard  sometimes  also 
among  students. 

Asia  China  soda 

Africa  Dora  sofa 

America  Martha  ^umbrella 


PRONUNCIATION  153 

1 1 .  The  sound  of  a  in  open,  unaccented  syllables  mis- 
pronounced long  a,  as  in  "  day,"  with  the  final  syllable 
unduly  stressed,  thus : 

ex  tra'  ze  bra' 

alge  bra'  i  orches  tra' 

Misuses  of  the  sounds  of  "e" 

y     I.  Long  e  in  ^"  penal "  mispronounced  short  e,  as  in 

P^^'  \  amenable 

inherent 

V      2.  '*  Either"  and  ''neither,"  commonly  pronounced  in 
/    this  country  et/ier  and  netAer,  are  pronounced  by  some 

people  it/ier  and  nither.    In  regard  to  this  pronunciation 

Richard  Grant  White  says  : 

For  the  pronunciation  ither  and  nither  there  is  no 
authority,  either  of  analogy  or  of  the  best  speakers.  It  is 
an  affectation,  and  in  this  country  a  copy  of  a  second-rate 
British  affectation. 

Webster  gives  both  pronunciations,  with  preference  for 
ether  and  nether. 

3.  Long  ^  in  "  serious  "  mispronounced  short  /,  "  seri- 
ous "  thus  becoming  "  sirious." 

experience  \  creek 

weaiy  sleek 

period  ^  clique 

mysterious  imperial 

4.  Short  ^  in  "  discretion  "  mispronounced  long  e,  as 
in  "  see,"  '*  discretion  "  thus  becoming  "  discreetion." 

amenity  presentation 

#r  precedent  reconciliation 


h 


ISy         ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

\?V^*  ^^^^^  ^  ^^  "edge"  mispronounced  long  a,  "edge" 
^^thus  becoming  "age." 

beg  egg  leg 


/      >y     The  same  error  occurs  in  the  pronunciation  of  "again" 

/and  "against."  A 

\    /  *•  again     =  agen      not  agan  ^^ 


against  =  agenst  not  aganst 


p       6.  Short  ^  in  "  men,"  and  its  equivalent,  the  sound  of 
'     <3;  in  "  any,"  mispronounced  short  /,  "  men  "  thus  becom- 


mg     mm. 

*  any  yet  fence 

many  severity  whence 

.  get  sincerity  thence 


/ 


7.  Short  e  mispronounced  short  u. 

brethren  not  bruthren 
requiem  not  requium 
terrible     not  turrible 


i- 


Misuses  of  the  sounds  of  "i" 

I.  Long  i  in  "sacrifice,"  like  z  in  "ice,"  mispro- 
nounced short  i,  as  in  "miss,"  "sacrifice"  thus  becoming 
"sacrifiss."  ,   -^^^^ 

contrite 
biography 

S^       2.  Short  t  in  "genuine,"  like  i  in  "in,"  mispronounced 
f      long  /,  as  in  "wine." 

ermine  docile  divert  divan 

V  sanguine  fertile  respite  diploma 

tyranny  fragile  bicycle  Italian 


/. 


PRONUNCIATION  155 

3.  Short  i  in  "since,"  and  its  equivalent,  the  sound 
of  e  in  "pretty"  and  ee  in  "been,"  mispronounced  short  e, 
"  since  "  thus  becoming  "  sense." 

\  been  %  pretty 

«  rinse  analytical 

\/       4.  Short  /  in  "  similar  "  mispronounced  short  u^  as  in 


7 


but,"  "similar'   thus  becoming  "  simular. 

.  assimilate 
insidious 
Latin 

Misuses  of  the  sounds  of  ^'o'* 

I.  Long  0  in  "revolt"  mispronounced  broad  o,  "re- 
volt" thus  becoming  "revawlt."  O 

course  sword 

hoarse  toward  N 

source  vaudeville 

^     >y     2.  Short   o    in    "dolorous,"    like   0    in    "doll,"    mis- 
i     /  pronounced  long  o,  as  in  "  dole." 

produce 
solace 
dominie 
/   domicile 


h 


3.  Short  0  in   "on"   mispronounced  broad  o,   as  in 
'  or,"  "  on  "  thus  becoming  "  awn." 

of  authority      ( 

orator  majority  v 

doll  foreign 


/ 


156  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

4.  Broad  0  in  "sought"  mispronounced  short  0^  ''sought" 

thus  becoming  ''  sot." 

bought  r^ 

fought  ' 

thought  V 

wrought 

j  >J         5.  Short  ^  in  "hovel"  mispronounced  short  w/' hovel" 

y^  ^    thus  becoming  "huvel." 

\  6.  Long  00  in  "  room  "  mispronounced  short  00 ^  as  in 

^  "foot,"  or  short  ?/,  as  in  "rum." 

soon  root  ^ 

broom  food  ^ 

vhoof  sooth 

roof  proof 


Misuses  of  the  sounds  of  '^u" 

I.  Long  u  in  "  culinary  "  mispronounced  short  ?/,  as  in 
"  cull,"  "  cuhnary  "  thus  becoming  "  cullinary." 


A  in  " 


2.  Long  ?/  in  "  student "  mispronounced  long  00,  as 


in  "food,"  "student"  thus  becoming  "  stoodent.' 


due 

neutral 

assume 

—^ 

duke 

produce 

tumult 

suit 

substitute 

newspaper 

A 

institute 

institution 

constitution 

3.   ^  is  sometimes  given  a  long  ?i  sound  when  it  should 
be  pronounced  long  00.  Thus,  "clue"  =  "cloo,"  not  "clu." 


blue 

plural 

jury 

n 

flue 

sluice 

juice 

"^ 

glue 

rude 

jubilant 

^ 

sure 

ruins 

injurious 

PRONUNCIATION  157 

4.  Short ;/  in  "ducat,"  like  u  in  "duck,"  mispronounced 
long  w,  like  w  in  "  duke."  0^ 

>       5.  6^  in  "  put,"  like  short  ^^  in  "  foot,"  mispronounced 
'^  short  «,  as  in  "  putty." 

I  pulpit 

pully 
pullet 

6.  Unaccented  u  in  "graduate"  mispronounced  short  /, 
"graduate"  thus  becoming  "gradiate." 

arguing 

speculate 

inaugurate 

A  common  source  of  mispronmiciation  is  the  incorrect 
use  of  vowel  sounds  in  the  initial  a7id  the  final  syllables 
of'mdny  words^^  Errors  of  IkisMnd  are  common  in  the 
titteraftce  of  careless  speakers.  Careful  attention  should 
be  given  to  such  cases  as  the  following : 


< 


ERRORS  OF  THE  VOWEL  SOUND  IN  INITIAL 
SYLLABLES 


I.  Obscured    short   a   in    an  initial    syllable    mispro- 

/  nounced  short  u,  "affect"  thus  becoming  "uhfect." 

allow  annoy 

arrest  appear         ^   K 

address  account  v 


^ 


2.  Obscured  long  e  in  the  initial  syllable  be  mispro- 
/     nounced  short  ^/,  "believe"  thus  becoming  "buhlieve." 


before 

^ 

become 

oi' 

because 

^ 

/ 


/ 


/ 


/ 


/ 


158  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

3.-  Obscured  long  e  in  the  initial  syllable  de  mispro- 
nounced short  ?/,  ''  debate  "  thus  becoming  *'  duhbate." 

deter  A 

decide  J    \ 

degree 

4.  Short  e  in  the  initial  syllable  ef  mispronounced 
long  e,  ''  efficient "  thus  becoming  ''  eeficient." 

effect 

effulgent  /   y 

effeminate  >^ 

5.  Short  e  in  the  initial  syllable  efi  mispronounced 
short  /,  ''  engage  "  thus  becoming  '*  ingage." 

endure 

enforce  ( \ 

endow  , 

ensue 

6.  Short  e  in  the  initial  syllable  es  mispronounced 
short  V,  *'  esteem  "  thus  becoming  ''  isteem." 

especial 
establish 
essential 
V  estate 

7.  A  common  error  in  certain  initial  syllables  is  that 
of  inverting  the  vowel  and  consonant  sounds,  as  ''predict" 
mispronounced  ''  perdict." 

prefer       not  perfer  perform  not  preform 

preside     not  perside  perhaps  not  prehaps 

presume  not  persume  permit  not  premit 

prevent    not  pervent  pertain  not  pretain 


PRONUNCIATION  1 59 

ERRORS  OF  THE  VOWEL  SOUND  IN  FINAL 
SYLLABLES 

\/     I .  Obscured  short  a  in  the  final  syllable  ant  or  ance  mis-  \ 
^   pronounced  short  u,  "  fragrant "  thus  becoming  '' fragrunt." 

abundant  tenant 

arrogant  tyrant 

elegant  pliant 

^  gallant  petulant 

suppliance  vigilance 

2.  Obscured  long  a  in  final  ate  mispronounced  long  a^ 
a  in  ''delicate"  thus  being  mispronounced  as  a  in  ''gate." 

(Note  that  in  these  words  obscured  long  a  occurs  in 
the  noun  and  adjective  forms,  long  a  in  the  verb  forms.) 

advocate  graduate  /  K^ 

aggregate  intimate         v  ^^  / 


J 


K- 


X 


X 


alternate  separate 

estimate  syndicate  /' 

A 

3.  Obscured  short  e  in  final  etice  mispronounced  short 

//,  "  insolence  "  thus  becoming  "  insolunce." 

confidence  sentence 

excellence  prudence 

experience  penitence 

influence  independence 

\ 

4.  Obscured  short  e  in  final  e7tt  mispronounced  short 
w,  "  judgment  "  thus  becoming  "  judgmunt." 

I 


/ 

/ 


instrument 

student 

chastisement 

penitent 

monument 

president 

i 


X 
X 


l6o  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

5.  Short  e  in  final  ed  mispronounced  short  z  or  short 
u,  "  hated  "  thus  becoming  ''  hatid  "  or  '*  hatud." 

fitted  hunted  /O 

united  parted 

created  waited  ^ 

educated  wounded 

6.  Short  e  in  final  en  mispronounced  short  t  or  short  u, 
''  women  "  thus  becoming  ''  womin  "  or  ''  womun." 

\  abdomen 
marten 

7.  Short  e  in  final  es  mispronounced  short  i  or  short  u, 
''  phases  "  thus  becoming  ''  phasis  "  or  "  phasus." 

praises  v^ 

phrases 


8.  Short' ^  in  final  ess  mispronounced  short  tor  short  u, 
w  "  business  "  thus  becoming  "  businiss  "  or  '*  businuss." 

^  careless  hostess 

fortress  kindness 

goodness  princess 

9.  'Short  e  in  final  est  mispronounced  short  i  or  short  ?/, 
"  interest  "  thus  becoming  "  interist  "  or  ''  interust." 

earnest  ablest  A 

harvest  truest  ^ 

modest  youngest 

\^        10.   Short  e  in  final  el  mispronounced  short  i  or  short 
^   «,  ''vowel"  thus  becoming  'Wowil"  or  ''vowul." 

counsel  '  angel 

citadel  jewel 

morsel  vessel 


PRONUNCIATION  i6i 

1 1 .  Short  i  in  final  in  or  ain  mispronounced  short  «,   v 

"  Latin  "  thus  becoming  ''  Latun."  ^JL^AA 

matin  certain  ^ 

satin  captain 

Wisconsin  fountain 

12.  Short  i  in  final  il  or  //^  mispronounced  short  //, 
"  civil  "  thus  becoming  "  civul." 

pupil  docile 

pencil  virile 

council  imbecile     * 

13.  Short  i  in  final  ization^  like  /  in  "America,"  mis- 
pronounced long  i. 

civilization  specialization 

organization  fertilization 

^  realization  authorization 

14.  Long  o  in  final  syllables  0  or  ow  mispronounced 
ah,  "potato"  thus  becoming  "potatah." 

Ohio  widow 

Toledo  window 

Chicago  tobacco 

Toronto  casino 

15.  Final  or,  equivalent  to  ^r  in  "father,"  is  frequently 
mispronounced  by  substituting  the  sound  of  0  in  "  for " 
and  by  unduly  stressing  the  syllable ;  thus  "factor  "  =  " fac- 
ter,"  not  "factor^" 

actor  victor 

orator  creator 

tutor  legislator 

educator  administrator 


7 


l62  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

1 6.  The    error   of   overstressing    final    syllables    is   a 

common  source  of  mispronunciation.    It  occurs  in  such 

words  as 

patriot  moment 

president  praises 

angel  created 

A  definite  touch  should  be  given  to  such  endings,  but 
special  care  should  be  taken  not  to  overemphasize  them. 

17.  Some  words  in  which  the  final  vowel  is  dropped 
altogether  are  mispronounced  by  retaining  the  vowel  and 
unduly  stressing  it ;  thus  ''  evil  "  =  ''  ev'l,"  not  ''  evil'." 

devil  cousin  button 

basin  pardon  cotton 

This  is  an  affectation  that  is  common  with  many  public 
speakers.  In  regard  to  it  Webster  says,  "To  pronounce 
evil,  devil,  etc.,  with  a  full  vowel  sound  in  the  final  syllable 
is  considered  pedantic,  even  in  formal  discourse."  ^ 

18.  In  certain  final  syllables  the  vowel  and  consonant 
sounds  are  incorrectly  inverted,  as  ''  hundred "  mispro- 
nounced "  hunderd." 

children    not  child<?rn 
congress  not  cong<?rss 
doctrine    not  doct^'me 

^^.^   massacre  =  massaker  not  mass  a  ere 
iron  =  iorn  not  iron 

The  error  of  inversion  sometimes  occurs  also  in  sylla- 
bles in  the  midst  of  a  word,  as : 

\    \  irre/^ant        not  irrez'^/ant  ^ 
envir<7nment  not  envi^mment 

1  Abernethy,  Correct  Pronunciation,  p.  47. 


X 


PRONUNCIATION  163 

II.    Common  Errors  of  Pronunciation  due  to 
Incorrectness  of  Consonant  Sounds 

The  consonants,  although  not  as  common  a  source  of 
mispronunciation  as  the  vowels,  require  careful  attention 
in  gaining  correct  habits  of  pronunciation.  While  the 
chief  characteristic  of  the  vowel  sounds  is  freedom  of 
the  vocal  passage,  that  of  the  consonants  is  just  the 
opposite  —  an  obstruction  of  some  kind.  Failure  to 
articulate  clearly,  as  we  have  seen  in  our  study  of  enun- 
ciation, is  due  sometimes  to  a  lack  of  agility  of  the 
articulating  organs.  In  the  case  of  many  words,  how- 
ever, the  failure  to  give  to  the  consonant  elements  their 
proper  values  is  merely  the  result  of  ignorance  or  care- 
lessness. The  cases  cited  below  illustrate  how  common 
is  the  habit  of  substituting  an  incorrect  consonant,  of 
dropping  a  consonant,  of  adding  a  consonant  that  has 
no  place  in  the  word,  and  of  similar  errors,  that  give 
rise  to  as  imperfect  a  mode  of  pronunciation  as  that  due 
to  the  vowel  errors  already  suggested. 

I.  A  common  error  is  that  of  substituting  an  incorrect 
consonant  sound. 

>y^arduous  not  ar/uous 

'*•  chimney  not  chim/ey 

^^competitor  not  competitor 

'  cranberry  not  cranberry 

Veducation  not  e/'ucation 

errand  not  erran/ 

have  not  ha/ 

\  immediate  not  imme/'iate 

importune  not  imporr-^une  tremendous  not  tremen/ous 

^  individual  not  individual  triumph  =  f  not  trium/^ 


insidious 

not  insiyious 

lief 

not  liez/ 

^  momentous 

not  momen^^ous 

mushroom 

not  mushroom 

^partner 

not  partner 

petulant 

not  pe^^ulant 

stupendous 

not  stupen/ous 

/  tract 

not  \X2Sik 

1 64 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


X 


2.  The  error  of  dropping  a  consonant. 


"land 

'    arctic 
w  asked 
^bend 

brand 
y  candidate 

cartridge 
X  cost 

depths 

east 
-^  February 

homage 

hostler 

.hound 
V  /|  humble 


not 
not 
askt  not 
not 
7iot.^ 
not 
not 
not 
not 
not 
not 
not 
not 
not 
not 


an' 

ar'tic 

as't 

ben' 

bran' 

can'idate 

ca'tridge 

cos' 

dep's 

eas' 

Feb'uary 

'omage 

'ostler 

houn' 

'umble 


important 

^last 
i/library 

lost 

question 
"j^  recognize 
w  send 

statute 

swept 
y  when 
Xwhig 
^  while 

white 
^yeast 


3.  The  error  of  adding  a  consonant. 


>< 


across 
^also 

asphalt 
^ran 
n/ close 

column 


not  acros/ 
not  al^so 
not  as^phalt 
not  bran^ 
not  clos/ 
not  colyumn 


y^   anywhere 
/. .  height 
^  law 

statistics 
summoned 


not  impor'ant 
not  kep' 
not  las' 
not  lib'ary 
not  los' 
not  ques'ion 
not  reco'nize 
7iot  sen' 
not  statu 'e 
not  swep' 
7iot  w'en  ^ 
not  w'ig  f 
not  w'ile   ' 
not  w'ite/ 
not  'east 


K 


not  anywheres 
not  height/z 
not  lawr 
?iot  staj-tistics 
not  summouj-ed 


>/, 


Washington  not  Warshington 

4.  The  error  of  sounding  a  consonant  that  is  silent, 
almond  =  a'mond  not  a/mond 


alms       =  a'ms 
apostle  =  apos'l 
J\  calm       =  ca'm 
/    castle     =  cas'l 
chasten  =  chas'n 
corps      =  cor' 


not  a/ms 
not  aposde 
not  ca/m 
not  cas/le 
not  chas/en 
not  corps 


PRONUNCIATION  165 

epistle  =  epis'l  not  epis/Ie 

^jK  glisten  =  glis'n  not  glis/en 

'     gristle  =  gris'l  not  gris/le 

4*  hasten  =  has'n  not  has/en 

v  often  =  of'n  not  oiten 

'   palm  =  pa'm  not  pa/m 

*  poignant  =  poi'nant  not  poignant 

raspberry  =  ras'berry  not  ras/>berry 

salmon  =  sa'mon  not  sa/mon 

y*  subtle  =  sut'l  not  su/^tle 

sword  =  s'ord  not  sword 

r  5.  The  soft  sound  of  ^  in  "  gesture,"  like/  in  "jest," 
mispronounced  hard  g,  as  in  "guest,"  "  jesture "  thus 
becoming  "guesture." 

gibe 
gibbet 
\y  giraffe 

\r  gyve 

*  gyroscope 

»  gigantean 

belligerent 

/         6.  The  sound  of  j  in  "  bison ' '  mispronounced  z,  * '  bison ' ' 
thus  becoming  ' '  bizon . ' ' 


adhesive 

disdain 

effusive 

derisive 

dissemble 

geyser 

desultory 

district 

gristle 

/ 


7.  The  sound  of  s  in  "artisan,"  like  z,  mispronounced 
like  s  in  "sun,"  "artizan"  thus  becoming  "artisun." 


asthma 

elysian 

possess 

dessert 

hesitate 

preserve 

disaster 

position 

result 

1 66 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


A 


^  8.  The  sound  of  x  in  ''exalt,"  like  ^^,  mispronounced 
ks,  ''egzalt"  thus  becoming  '' eksalt." 

anxiety  ^  exemplary  exhibit 

exact  exhaust  exhilarate 

exist  example  exhort 

exert  examine  exorbitant 

exempt  executive  exuberant 

The  sound  of  x  in  ''exile,"  like  ks,  mispronounced 
eksile  "  thus  becoming  "  egzile." 

\exquisite  exclusive 

extant  exculpate 

extol  exigency 

excerpt  exit 


^-s-, 


excise 


exorcise 


expert 

exploit 

explosive 

exponent 

expurgate 


lo.  The  sound  of  c/i  in  "archangel,"  like  k  in  "ark," 
^y^    mispronounced  like  c/i  in  "arch,"  "arkangel  "  thus  becom- 
ing "archangel." 

archive 
archaeology 


archetype 
architect 


archipelago 
architrave 


/ 


II.    T/z  as  in  "then"  mispronounced  like  t/i  in  "thin." 


thence 


\  thither 


,with 


12.  Consonants  are  frpgnPTrhlj^  rnic^^ronounced  by  be- 
lli^ suuiidedjj>  the  W^r^Tis  spelled^  while  usage  requires 
'^at  they  be  changed_Qi:iir©ppe3;  thus  " thyme "  =  "time," 
not  "  thiihe." 

buffet  V  comptroller  Thames 

cupboard  draught  Thibet 

blackguard  forehead  Leicester 

Edinburgh  handkerchief  Worcester 


PRONUNCIATION  167 

III.    Common  Errors  of  Pronunciation  due  to 
Incorrect  Accent 

^--■Accent  is  a  stress  of  the  voice  laid  upon  one  or 
more  syllables  of  a  word,  in  order  to  make  them  "stand 
oQFrnQre'pnTfiTinentlvTHan  tlie  adjacent'svllabies.  "It per-^ 
forms  the  same  functioQOtelsaani-lbat  emphasis  does, 
in  the  sentence,  and  is  found  in  all  words  of  niore  than 
one  syllable.  The  accents  used  to  indicate  the  degree  of 
stress  laid  upon  different  syllables  of  a  word  are  three 
in  number. 

1.  Primary  accent  marks  the  syllable  that  is  to  be 
most  strongly  stressed  in  pronunciation,  as  in  '*  induce  V 
"  in'famy,"  ''  deserve'." 

2.  Secondary  accent  marks  the  syllable  that  stands 
next  in  irnpOTfanc^tCIhe^ne  taking  the  primary  accent, 
as  in  '*  in'distinctV  ''  un'dertake'."  The  last  syllable  of 
these  words  has  the  primary  accent,  the  first  the  secondary. 

3.  Weak  accent  marks  the  syllable  next  in  importance 
to  the  one  taking  the  secondary  accent,  as  in  "  in'tellec'- 
tual'ity,"  "  inMestruc'tibiFity."  The  fifth  syllable  of  these 
words  has  the  primary  accent,  the  third  syllable  the  sec- 
ondary accent,  the  first  syllable  the  weak  accent. 

The  primary  accent  Js  the  determining  factor  in  pro- 
nunciation,__2iid_j:£quires  chief  attention.  The  following 
sug;gestions,  quoted  with  a  few  changes  and  omissions 
from  Webster,!  make  clear  the  main  problems  involved 
in  the  use  of  accent : 

I.  '^For  English  no  fixed  niles,  sitch  as  often  exist  in 
other  languages,  can  be  given  by  zvhich  the  accent  of  most 

1  New  International  Dictionary,  p.  xliv. 


1 68  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  its  words  may  be  detet  mined.  Words  of  new  forma- 
tion or  words  recently  adopted  into  the  language  are 
usually  accented  according  to  the  analogy  of  similar 
words  of  longer  standing." 

2.  ^^ English  accentuatio7t  is  recessive,  that  is,  the  gen- 
eraHeBdenry-'of  the  language  is  to  carry  the  chief  accent, 
or  stress,  back  towards  or  to  the  first  syllable.  The  work- 
ing of  this  principle  is  seen  in  such  words  as  bal'cony, 
formerly  balco^ny\  cofi^fiscate,  formerly  cofifis'cate.  In 
many  words  the  struggle  between  this  principle  and  for- 
mer usage  is  reflected  in  varying  present  usage,  as  in 
the  pronunciations  ad'vertize  and  advertise',  il'histrate 
and  illiis'trate.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that 
this  tendency,  though  important,  is  often  less  strong  than 
other  influences." 

3.  "  The  rhythmic  character  of  English  accent  is  a 
marked  feature  of  the  language,  English  pronunciation, 
like  the  German,  and  that  of  other  Teutonic  languages, 
is  characterized  by  strongly  accented  syllables  followed 
by  much  weaker  ones.  In  French  there  is  a  tendency 
to  even  accent,  the  stronger  syllables  rising  only  a  little 
above  the  others,  while  in  the  other  Romance  languages, 
as  Italian  and  Spanish,  the  accent,  though  stronger 
than  in  French,  is  not  so  marked  as  in  either  English 
or  German.  Strong  accent  involves  a  considerable  vocal 
effort  and  the  expenditure  of  an  increased  amount  of 
breath.  Before  another  syllable  is  pronounced  with  the 
same  force,  there  must  usually  be  an  opportunity  to  re- 
cover from  the  first  effort.  This  may  be  gained  by  the 
pronunciation  of  one  or  more  weak  syllables.  The  prevail- 
ing tendency  in  English  is  to  alternate  strong  and  weak 


PRONUNCIATION  169 

accent  jregularlj.  Thus,  in  such  a  word  as  mod'ify\  while 
the  strongest  accent  is  on  the-- fost— syttablc,  the  third 
syllable  is  stronger  than  the  second." 

4.  ^*  When  a  word  contaijis  two  syttahles  each  of  which 
is  pronounced  with  the  same  degree  of  force ^  the  word  is 
said  to  have  '  eve7i '  accent.  Even,  or  nearly  even,  accent 
occurs  in  the  numerals  thirteen,  fourteen,  etc.,  when 
used  alone  or  separated  from  the  noun  modified,  as  in 
He  is  thir'teen^ ;  but  not  in  counting  or  when  preceding 
an  accented  syllable,  as  in  four' teen'  days,  in  which  cases 
the  stronger  accent  falls  on  the  first  syllable.  Even 
accent  also  sometimes  occurs  in  compounds,  as  well^- 
be'ing,  red' -hot' ,  but  the  tendency  is  to  make  the  accent 
somewhat  stronger  on  one  syllable  or  the  other  according 
to  the  rhythmic  principle.  Thus,  a  red' -hot'  stove  \  the 
stove  is  red'-hot',  etc.  The  determination  of  accent  in 
compound  words  offers  many  difficulties  because  such 
words  are  particularly  liable  to  shifting  accent  according 
to  the  dominant  idea  in  the  mind  of  the  speaker  or 
according  to  the  accentuation  of  following  words,  follow- 
ing the  rhythmic  principle.  In  general,  however,  it  is 
governed  by  the  logical  principle  that  even  accent  keeps 
distinct  the  original  ideas  expressed  by  the  members  of 
the  compound,  while  uneven  accent  combines  them  into  a 
simple  new  idea.  Thus  when  the  compound  is  composed  ^ 
of  two  nouns,  the  first  of  which  has  the  function  of  a\ 
simple  attribute,  even  accent  is  common,  as  in  ber'ty  pie' ,  J 
steel'  pen' .  When  the  meanings  of  the  two  components 
become  so  intimately  blended  that  the  separate  ideas  are 
lost  sight  of  in  the  single  idea  expressed  by  the  compound 
we  have  combinative  stress,  as  in  rain' bow' ,  book' case' ,'' 


I/O  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

5.  "  Contrasting  accent.  When  it  is  desired  to  contrast 
two  or  more  words,  they  are  often  given  an  accentuation 
different  from  their  more  usual  one,  as  agree' able  and 
dis' agreeable,   bear  and  forebear.'' 

6.  ''Shifting,  or  variable,  accent.  Words  in  which  the 
accent  varies  are  said  to  have  shifting  accent.  Shifting 
accent  is  common  in  EngHsh.  In  former  periods  of 
Enghsh  the  accentuation  was  often  more  variable  than 
in  present  use.  Thus  in  Shakespeare  we  have  many 
such  instances  as  adverse  and  adverse,  misplaced  and 
misplaced,  profane  and  profane.  Such  variable  accent 
was  admissible  in  Shakespeare's  time  because  then  many 
words,  especially  from  the  French,  were  in  a  transition 
stage  as  regards  their  accentuation,  and  were  accented  in 
either  of  two  ways.  This  was  true  not  only  of  many 
adjectives  but  also  of  nouns,  as  confes'sor  and  confessor, 
rev' enue  and  reven'ue.  Most  such  words  have  in  pres- 
ent English  become  fixed  in  accentuation,  as  confes'sor, 
rev'  enne.'' 

Accent  is  often  shifted  to  indicate  different  parts  of 
speech.  In  the  case  of  words  of  two  syllables  that  are 
used  as  verbs  and  also  as  nouns  or  adjectives,  the  sees 
syllable  is  usually  accented  in  the  verb  form  and  the  first 
syllable  in  the  noun  or  adjective  form.  The  following 
will  illustrate  variable  accent  as  employed  in  words  that 
are  used  as  different  parts  of  speech : 

^  A 

Verb  Noun  or  Adjective*^     /N    \| 

(i 


A 


present  present 

^  rebel'  '  reb'el 

retail'  re 'tail 


PRONUNCIATION 


171 


Verb 
contrast' 
contest' 
content' 
overthrow' 
permit' 
placard' 
presage' 
produce' 

\  progress' 
project' 

>^  protest' 
subject' 
survey' 

Verb 
absent' 
frequent' 

Noun 
Au'gust 
com 'pact 
^  ex 'pert 
gallant' 
prec'edent 


Noun 
con'trast 
con 'test 
con 'tent 
overthrow 
per'mit 
plac'ard 
pres'age 
prod'uce 
prog'ress 
proj'ect 
pro 'test 
sub'ject 
sur'vey 

Adjective 
ab'sent 
fre'quent 

Adjective 

august' 

compact' 

expert' 

gal'lant 

preced'ent 


A  great  many  words  retain  the  same  accent  for  different 
parts  of  speech : 

Noun  or  Verb 


attack' 

acclaim' 

annex' 

cap'ture 

cement'x 

consent' 

conserve' 


decline' 

decrease' 

defeat' 

detail' 

regard' 

remark' 

return' 


<i/ 


172  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  misplacing  of  accent  is  a  very  common  source  of 

mispronunciation.   Next  to  the  misuse  of  the  vowel  soundST"* 

more  mistakes  of  pronunciation  are  due  to  this  than  to 
any  other  cause.  A  great  many  common  words  that 
everyone  should  know  how  to  pronounce  correctly  are 
mispronounced  by  improperly  placed  accent.  The  words 
"address',"  "entire',"  "defect',"  "  robust',"  \"  pretense'," 
for  which  no  authority  gives  any  pronunciation  other  than 
that  with  the  accent  on  the  final  syllable,  are  mispro- 
nounced by  a  great  many  people  by  placing  the  accent 
on  the  first  syllable.  The  speaker  should  be  painstaking 
enough  to  be  absolutely  certain  of  the  accent  of  at  least 
all  the  common  words  that  he  employs.  Yet  a  casual 
observer  will  note  that  many  speakers  are  very  careless 
in  this  respect.  The  mispronunciation  of  such  common 
words  as  these  is  always  indicative  of  carelessness.  No 
educated  person,  and  certainly  no  public  speaker,  can 
well  afford  to  allow  a  laxness  of  this  kind  to  persist  and 
continue  to  be  a  source  of  criticism.  The  student  of  pub- 
lic speaking  in  particular  should  make  an  earnest  effort 
to  weed  out  of  his  vocabulary  all  such  errors,  which  are 
bound  to  be  a  hindrance  to  his  success. 

A  common  error  in  the  use  of  accent  is  to  disregard 
the  recessive  principle  of  English  accentuation  by  shift- 
ing the  accent  forward  one  or  two  syllables.  There  are 
a  great  many  words,  which  all  authorities  are  agreed 
should  follow  the  recessive  principle,  that  are  quite  com- 
monly mispronounced  by  incorrectly  placing  the  accent 
forward,  as  "  ad'mirable  "  called  "  admir'able  "  ;  "a'lias," 
h  ali'as  "  ;  "  com'parable,"  "  compar'able  "  ;  "  blas'phe- 
\mous,"    "blasphem'ous";    "des'picable,"  "  despic'able." 


PRONUNCIATION 


173 


The  following  are  among  the  most  common  in  which 
this  error  occurs : 


abject 

corollary 

impudent 

\  municipal 

admirable 

^decade 

inchoate 

obdurate 

admiralty 

^deficit 

incognito 

obsequies 

adversary 

delicate 

\  incomparable 

obsolete 

affluence 

depot 

indigent 

«  orchestra 

alias 

-^despicable 

indissoluble 

V  ordeal 

applicable 

desuetude 

>,  industry 

orison 

arbutus 

desultory 

inevitable 

overt 

Belial 

devastate 

4  inexorable 

ozone 

blasphemous 

%  disputant 

inexplicable 

parabola 

brigand 

disreputable 

» infamous 

pathos 

y  chastisement 

eczema 

infamy 

plaza 

clematis 

enfranchisement    integral 

precedent 

cocaine 

equipage 

interested 

preferable 

cognizance 

exigency 

\  interesting 

purport 

V  combatant 

explicable 

irreparable 

rapine 

commune 

exquisite 

irrevocable 

reputable 

comparable 

formidable 

kerosene 

respite 

complex 

gasoline 

f  lamentable 

superfluous 

compromise 

gondola 

\  maintenance 

syringe 

contents 

\harass 

mayoralty 

\theater 

contrary 

herculean 

mechanism 

%  toward 

contumely 

*  hospitable 

menu 

traverse 

conversant 

%  impious 

mischievous 

^ribune 

comet 

^impotent ' 

monastery 

vehement 

In  some  words  the  accent  does  not  follow  the  recessive 
principle,  but  tends  toward  the  final  syllable.  In  words 
of  this  kind  the  mispronunciation  is  due  to  a  shift  of 
accent  backward,  as  \' ally'"  called  "al'ly";  "address','* 
"  ad'dress  "  ;    "  oppo'nent,"    "  op'ponent  "  ;    S  pretense','' 


pre'tense 


"  robust',' 


ro'bust  " 


romance 


1/4 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 


''ro'mance."    The  following  are  among  the  most  common 
in  which  this  error  occurs  : 


abdomen 

coadjutor 

Mdea 

pretense 

acclimate 

cognomen 

^  ideal 

pyramidal 

address 

commandant 

inquiry 

recall 

adept 

compeer 

irremediable 

^recess 

»  adult 

comport 

HJyceum 

V  recluse 

advert 

^condolence 

maintain 

refutable 

albumen 

confidant 

mirage 

remediable 

allopathy 

^  conjure 

^museum 

requite 

\ally 

defect 

obtuse 

research 

antipodes 

dessert 

V  occult 

resource 

appellate 

detour 

opponent 

robust 

^  calliope 

divert 

%  police 

romance 

caloric 

domain 

portiere 

routine 

chauffeur 

entire 

precedence 

trousseau 

clandestine 

y  grimace 

precise 

vagary 

fv 


(\ 


/ 


In  some  words  we  find  that  as  yet  there  is  no  fixed 
standard  of  spelling,  two  forms  being  equally  correct, 
as  ''gasoline"  or  "gasolene,"  ''theater"  or  "theatre," 
"  scepter  "  or  "  sceptre  "  ;  so,  often,  in  pronunciation  two 
forms  are  considered  correct.    Thus  Webster  gives 

ac'cess  or  access' 

adver'tisement  or  advertise 'ment 

com'pensate  or  com  pen 'sate 

con'centrate  or  concen'trate 

con'fiscate  or  confis'cate  .    ' 

con 'template  or  con  tem 'plate 

dem'onstrate  or  demon 'strate 

In  the  case  of  words  of  this  kind  that  admit  of  two 
pronunciations,  both  of  which  are  correct,  it  is  usually 
considered  best  to  follow  the  first  pronunciation  given. 


PRONUNCIATION  175 

In  some  words  authorities  do  not  agree  in  regard  to 
the  accent,  as  in  the  following : 

1.  al'temate  {verb)  (Webster) 
alternate  (Stormpnth) 
alter 'nate  1 

or        \  (Worcester) 
al'ternate  J 

2.  so'joum^ 

or       \  (Webster) 
sojourn 'J 
so 'journal  /        i  , 

or       I  (Standard)  (        W 

sojourn' J  »     '    > 

so'journ     (Worcester) 

3.  aggran'dizement     (Webster)  ,• 
ag'grandizement  ^ 

or  \  (Century)  -->j 

aggran'dizement  J 
ag'grandizement     (Standard) 
ag'grandizement  ^ 

or  \  (Worcester) 

aggran'dizement  J 

4.  cel'ibacy  "^ 

or       \  (Webster) 
celib'acy  J 
cel'ibacy     (All  other  authorities) 

5.  chiv'alric^ 

or       I  (Webster) 
chival'ricj 
chival'ric"! 

or       I  (Oxford  English  Dictionary) 
chiv'alric  J 

chival'ric  (Worcester) 
chiv'alric     (All  other  authorities) 


1/6 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


In  words  of  this  kind,  for  which  there  is  no  fixed 
standard  of  pronunciation,  it  is  often  very  perplexing  to 
a  speaker  to  determine  which  authority  is  best  to  follow. 

In  the  first  place  he  may  safely  leave  out  of  con- 
sideration the  British  authorities  —  the  Oxford  English 
Dictionary,  Stormonth,  and  the  Encyclopedic  Dictionary. 
British  pronunciation  differs  so  widely  from  American 
that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  follow  British  authorities  in 
determining  the  standards  in  this  country. 

Aside  from  this  he  must  use  his  own  discretion.  His 
good  judgment  will  tell  him  that  it  is  not  wise  to  use 
an  unusual  or  striking  pronunciation  and  flaunt  it  in  the 
face  of  an  audience  that  is  not  accustomed  to  it,  although 
there  may  be  authority  for  it.  It  would  show  neither 
good  taste  nor  good  judgment  to  adopt  the  pronunciation 
''celib'acy,"  as  it  is  not  in  common  use,  and  is  recognized 
by  only  one  authority  and  then  only  as  a  second  choice. 

The  following  words,  according  to  different  authorities, 
admit  of  two  or  more  pronunciations  by  change  of  accent : 


access 

communal 

contour 

espionage 

adipose 

compensate 

costume 

exculpate 

advertise 

complaisance 

decorous 

exemplary 

advertisement 

composite 

defile 

extant 

aggrandizement 

concentrate 

demonstrate 

finance 

alternate 

confine 

detail 

financier 

aspirant 

confiscate 

discount 

illustrate 

balustrade 

conserve 

disputable 

indisputable 

celibacy 

construe 

diverse 

inlaid 

cement 

consummate 

encore 

irrefutable 

chivalric 

contemplate 

enema 

misconstrue 

comatose 

content 

envelope 

mobile 

comment 

contents 

envoy 

nomenclature 

PRONUNCIATION 


177 


obduracy 

pacification 

premature 

reservoir 

obdurate 

papa 

prestige 

sojourn 

obligatory 

penult 

pretext 

souvenir 

octopus 

peremptory 

prolix 

strategic 

opportune 

pianist 

quinine 

vindicative 

orchestral 

placard 

recondite 

viola 

orthoepy 

portent 

reflex 

vizier 

IV.  Errors  of  Pronunciation  due  to  Incorrect 
Syllabication 

Sometimes  mispronunciation  is  due  to  failure  to  utter 
words  according  to  their  natural  syllabic  divisions,  as 
"despair,"  mispronounced  ''despair."  More  frequently, 
however,  it  is  the  result  of  a  careless  dropping  of  a  syl- 
lable or  of  adding  a  syllable  that  has  no  place  in  the 
word.  The  following  cases  illustrate  errors  of  syllabication 
that  are  a  common  source  of  mispropunciation. 

I .  The  error  of  incorrectly  dividing  words  into  syllables. 

de  sire         not  des  ire  pro  bate      not  prob  ate 

de  sign        not  des  ign  pro  pose      not  prop  ose 

de  scend      not  des  cend  pro  scribe   not  pros  cribe 


prob  lem     not  pro  blem 
\proc  ess      not  pro  cess 
pros  ecute  not  pro  secute 

2.  The  error  of  dropping  syllables  entirely. 

associate  not  assosh'ate 

barrel  not  bar'l 

boisterous  not  boist'rous 

boundary  not  bound'ry 

brewery  not  brew'ry 


A  des  picable  not  de  spicable 
des  pot        not  de  spot 
des  ignate    not  de  signate 


accurate  not  acc'rate 

adaptation  not  adap'shn 

aerial  not  a'rial 

aeroplane  not  a'roplane 

annihilate  not  anni'late 


178 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


California 

not  Californ'ya 

\  jugular 

not  jug'lar 

cancel 

not  canc'l 

laboratory 

not  lab'ratory 

cemetery 

not  cemet'ry 

Latin 

not  Lat'n 

centuries 

not  cench'ries 

^medieval 
mountain 

not  med'eval 

certain 

7iot  cert'n 

not  mount'n 

chicken 

not  chick'n 

\  mystery 

not  myst'ry 

considerable  not  consid'rable 

novel 

not  nov'l 

diamond 

not  di'mond 

omelet 

not  om'let 

difference 

7iot  dif'rence 

yordeal 

not  orde'l 

\  direct 

not  d'rect 

partiality 

not  parsh'ality 

drawer 

not  draw' 

participle 

not  part'ciple 

eleven 

not  'leven 

particularly 

not  partic'ly 

factory 

not  fact'ry 

realize 

not  re'lize 

federal 

not  fed'ral 

reference 

not  ref'rence 

fiery 

not  fi'ry 

regular 

not  reg'lar 

finally 

.not  fin'ly 

scientifically  not  scientific'ly 

generally 

not  gen'ally 

slavery 

not  slav'ry 

V  government 

;  not  gov'ment 

statistics 

not  st'istics 

history 

not  hist'ry 

vacuum 

not  vacu'm 

^hygiene 

not  hyg'en 

valuable 

not  valu'ble 

^  idea 

not  ide' 

vegetable 

not  veg'table 

individual 

not  indivij'al 

victory 

7iot  vict'ry 

interest 

not  int'rest 

Virginia 

not  Virgin'ya 

ivory 

not  iv'ry 

widening 

not  wid'ning 

Note,  Special  attention  should  be  given  to  such  errors  as  those 
of  the  list  above.  I  have  found  that  among  students  there  is  no 
more  common  source  of  mispronunciation  than  that  of  the  careless 
dropping  of  syllables. 


3.  The  error  of  pronouncing  words  with  more  syllables 
than  usage  permits. 

alien  =  al  yen  7tot  a.  lien 

allegiance  =  a  le  jance       not  al  le  gi  ance 
auxiliary    =  awg  zil  ya  ri  not  awg  zil  i  a  ri 


cocoa 

=  CO  CO 

conduit 

=  con  dit 

cordial 

=  cor  jal  c 

courtier 

=  cort  yer 

evening 

=  ev  ning 

facial 

=  fa  shal 

genius 

=  gen  yus 

gorgeous 

=  gor  jus 

javelin 

=  jav  lin 

PRONUNCIATION  179 

not  CO  CO  a 
not  con  du  it 
cor  jal  or  cord  yal  not  cor  di  al 
not  cor  tier 


not  ev  en  mg 
not  fa  ci  al 
not  ge  ni  us 
not  gor  ge  us 
not  jav  e  lin 
mischievous  =  mis  chi  vus  not  mis  che  vi  us 

\  nuptial  =  nup  shal  not  nup  ti  al 

tremendous  =  tre  men  dus  not  tre  men  du  ous 

stupendous  =  stu  pen  dus  not  stu  pen  du  ous 

4.  Such  words  as  ''aged,"  "learned,"  ''beloved,"  give 
much  trouble  in  regard  to  syllabication.  The  follov^^ing 
principles  will  make  clear  their  correct  use  : 

a.  Words  of  this  class,  when  used  as  adjective  modifiers, 
are  pronounced  with  two  syllables,  thus : 

He  was  an  aged,  trembling  man. 

/ 

b.  When  used  as  participles  they  are  pronounced  with 

one  syllable,  thus : 

He  had  ag^d  considerably. 

c.  When  used  in  compounds  they  are  usually  pronounced   .  / 
with  one  syllable,  thus  :  / 

He  was  a  well-beloved  man. 

d.  When  used  in  poetry  the  two-syllable  form  is  com- 
monly employed  for  the  sake  of  meter. 

ag  ed  learn  ed 

V  belov  ed  leg  ged 

bless  ed  peak  ed 

curs  ed  wing  ed 


i8o 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  FOR  GAINING  PROFICIENCY 
IN  PRONUNCIATION 

Exercise  I.  Let  the  student  pronounce  the  words  in 
the  following  lists  so  far  as  he  is  positive  of  the  pronun- 
ciation. For  all  words  of  which  he  is  not  absolutely  certain 
let  him  consult  the  dictionary. 

Pronounce  with  attention  to  vowel  sounds : 


acquiesce 

cleanly 

domicile 

glacier 

aerial 

clematis 

doth 

gone 

again 

clique 

drama 

granary 

alma  mater 

coffee 

emendation 

gratis 

always 

comely 

employee 

harem 

amen 

contrite 

enigmatic 

haunch 

amenable 

courier 

envelope 

heinous 

angel 

courtesy 

envoy 

hilarious 

apex 

courtier 

epoch 

hydrangea 

apparatus 

covert 

equable 

hypocrisy 

apparent 

craunch 

equine 

imbecile 

aqueous 

creek 

estimate 

implacable 

archive 

crupper 

falcon 

infantile 

audacious 

culinary 

fiancee 

interstice 

avaunt 

dahlia 

fief 

inveigle 

bade 

dais 

finance 

irate 

bayou 

daunt 

fiord 

jocund 

bestial 

demur 

forge 

jowl 

betroth 

denouement 

fortress 

jury 

biography 

depot 

frontier 

juvenile 

bravado 

deprivation 

gala 

Koran 

bromide 

desperado 

gape 

lava 

brooch 

diploma 

garish 

legate 

candelabra 

diplomatic 

garrulous 

legend 

chough 

docile 

gaunt 

leisure 

civilization 

dog 

genealogy 

leonine 

PRONUNCIATION 


I8i 


lever 

only 

precocity 

rapine 

libertine 

onyx 

predatory 

reptile 

lilac 

pageant 

predecessor 

respite 

livelong 

paraffin 

prelude 

rout 

mall 

parent 

probity 

senile 

manor 

pathos 

process 

servile 

maritime 

patron 

produce 

terrible 

mercantile 

pianist 

profile 

tiara 

nervine 

piquant 

program 

trio 

none 

placable 

progress 

vase 

nothing 

placard 

project 

visor 

oblique 

plaid 

protestation 

water 

onerous 

plait 

rabbi 

wound 

Pronounce  v^ith  attention  to  consonant  sounds  : 

architect 

cupboard 

gibberish 

luxury 

arctic 

demagogy 

gibbet 

mistletoe 

associate 

depths 

gooseberry 

oath 

blackguard 

derisive 

handkerchief 

orchid 

buffet 

desultory 

height 

poignant 

candidate 

diphtheria 

hesitate 

poniard 

canon 

diphthong 

hiccough 

pronunciation 

chiropodist 

disaster 

homage 

renunciation 

clangor 

disdain 

humor 

rhythm 

clothes 

draught 

improvisation 

solder 

cognac 

drought 

incognito 

subpoena 

cognizance 

equation 

isthmus 

thence 

column 

exhort 

jasmine 

thither 

comptroller 

exit 

kiln 

thyme 

concerto 

February 

lambrequin 

wharf 

conscientious 

flaccid 

lichen 

whig 

corps 

flageolet 

licorice 

with 

credulity 

forehead 

liturgic 

withe 

crescendo 

geyser 

loath 

wreath 

I82 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Pronounce  with  attention  to  correct  accent : 


abject 

confine 

grimace 

opponent 

acclimate 

confiscate 

harass 

ordeal 

address 

conjure 

herculean 

overt 

adult 

construe 

hospitable 

police 

adverse 

conversant 

impious 

precedence 

alias 

defect 

impotent 

pretense 

ally 

depot 

indissoluble 

pretext 

aspirant 

desert 

inexorable 

purport 

automobile 

despicable 

inquiry 

recall 

brigand 

divert 

interesting 

recess 

caloric 

domain 

irreparable 

research 

chastisement 

eczema 

irrevocable 

respite 

clematis 

entire 

lamentable 

robust 

cocaine 

equipage 

maintain 

romance 

cognomen 

explicable 

maintenance 

routine 

combatant 

exquisite 

menu 

theater 

commandant 

formidable 

mirage 

toward 

compeer 

gasoline 

museum 

tribune 

confidant 

gondola 

occult 

vagary 

Pronounce  with  attention  to  syllabication 

r. 

accurate 

curriculum 

film 

inertia 

annihilate 

daguerreotype 

finale 

insidious 

bivouac 

decollete 

folio 

javelin 

casualty 

defalcate 

formerly 

laudanum 

christen 

desuetude 

fuchsia 

lenient 

Christianity 

dexterous 

gaseous 

lien 

cocaine 

diamond 

glacial 

lineament 

conduit 

dyspepsia 

guardian 

magnesia 

cordiality 

elm 

heaven 

magnolia 

courteous 

evening 

helm 

miniature 

covetous 

every 

hieroglyphic 

multiplication 

cuneiform 

extraordinary 

idea 

nausea 

PRONUNCIATION 


183 


neuralgia 

presentiment 

recognize 

tedious 

nihilist 

presumptuous 

remediable 

temperament 

nuptial 

pueblo 

restaurant 

terror 

often 

racial 

several 

toward 

porcelain 

ratio 

statistics 

venial 

prescience 

really 

subtle 

winged 

Exercise  II.    Pronounce  the  follow^ing  words,  which 
are  often  confused : 


accent 

broach 

council 

either 

leaven 

poplar 

assent 

brooch 

counsel 

ether 

eleven 

popular 

accept 

cashmere 

consul 

envelop 

loath 

quote 

except 

cassimere 

courtesy 

envelope 

loathe 

coat 

access 

cease 

curtsy 

errand 

milk 

rending 

assess 

seize 

dais 

errant 

milch 

rendering 

excess 

dies 

cnlHpr 

adapt 
adept 

century 
sentry 

dice 
decade 

falcon 
falchion 

modest 
modiste 

soldier 
sooth 

adopt 

christen 

decayed 

formally 

moral 

soothe 

affect 

Christian 

decease 

formerly 

morale 

statue 

effect 

clamor 

disease 

genteel 

nap 

stature 

area 

clamber 

desert 

gentile 

nape 

statute 

aria 

complement  dessert 

hospital 

perquisite 

track 

era 

compliment 

dissert 

hospitable 

prerequisite  tract 

bran 

conserve 

divers 

incline 

pillar 

wander 

brand 

converse 

diverse 

encline 

pillow 

wonder 

Exercise  III.    Pronounce  the  following  words,  many 
of  which  are  difficult  because  of  their  foreign  derivation: 

accouter  ad  infinitimi         aesthetic  alias 

acoustics  adobe  aigrette  allegro 

adagio  aerate  k  la  carte  alma  mater 


1 84 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


alumna 

brougham 

coalesce 

fagade 

alumnae 

brusque 

coiffure 

fantasia 

alumni 

buoyant 

congeries 

fete 

amanuensis 

bureaucracy 

connoisseur 

fetish 

anachronism 

cabal 

consomme 

fief 

applique 

caffeine 

corral 

fillet 

apropos 

cairn 

corsage 

finesse 

aqueous 

caisson 

cortege 

fiord 

arabesque 

caliph 

crinoline 

flaccid 

aria 

calk 

cuirass 

fleur-de-lis 

asphyxiate 

canaille 

cuisine 

foyer 

assize 

canard 

cyclamen 

fugue 

attache 

cantaloupe 

Cyclopean 

fusillade 

au  revoir 

cantata 

cynosure 

garage 

bacchante 

cap-a-pie 

debris 

gendarme 

bacillus 

carrousel 

debut 

guillotine 

ballet 

caviar 

debutante 

gyves 

balustrade 

cayenne 

demesne 

hegira 

barouche 

centime 

demoniacal 

hiatus 

basalt 

chalet 

denouement 

imbroglio 

basilisk 

chamois 

desuetude 

inchoate 

bas-relief 

chanticleer 

dilettante 

incognito 

baton 

chaperone 

dishabille 

jocund 

bijou 

chary 

distingue 

landau 

billet-doux 

chauffeur 

dramatis  personae 

:  lethargic 

bivouac 

chic 

eclat 

levant 

blancmange 

chicanery 

egregious 

levee 

blatant 

chimera 

eleemosynary 

lief 

bona  fide 

chiropodist 

elite 

limousine 

bouillon 

choler 

encore 

lingerie 

bouquet 

chough 

ennui 

loggia 

bourgeois 

cicatrix 

en  route 

lyonnaise 

bourn 

cicerone 

errata 

madras  ^ 

brevet 

circuitous 

espionage 

magi 

brochure 

clientele 

expose 

maniacal 

PRONUNCIATION 


I8S 


maraschino 

outre' 

regime 

sinecure 

massage 

palazzo 

rendezvous 

sine  die 

mayonnaise 

palette 

repertoire 

sirrah 

m^lee 

par  excellence 

re'sumd 

ski 

memoir 

parquet 

reveille 

sonata 

meringue 

pasha 

rondeau 

strophe 

mezzo 

plaza 

sabot 

suave 

naiad 

polonaise 

sachet 

table  d'hote 

naive 

portiere 

salon 

troche 

nascent 

prima  facie 

satyr 

trousseau 

negligee 

puissance 

scherzo 

valet 

Nereid 

qui  vive 

se'ance 

viva  voce 

noblesse  oblige 

rabies 

sheik 

vizier 

nom  de  plume 

rationale 

siesta 

wassail 

nomenclature 

recitative 

signor 

zouave 

CHAPTER  VIII 
PITCH 

The  bane  of  public  speaking  is  monotony.  Probably 
the  most  noticeable  fault  of  the  poor  speaker  or  reader  is 
that  of  going  on  and  on  with  an  almost  expressionless 
monotone,  hardly  raising  or  lowering  the  voice  percepti- 
bly at  any  time,  but  holding  it  almost  constantly  on  one 
key.  Neither  does  there  appear  to  be  any  break  or  pause 
in  the  expression  to  indicate  the  thought  of  the  speaker, 
but  all  flows  along  in  a  ceaseless  stream  from  beginning 
to  end.  Nor  does  there  seem  to  be  any  special  stress  laid 
upon  one  idea  more  than  upon  another,  nor  any  color  of 
the  voice  that  will  help  to  convey  the  meaning.  This  kind 
of  speaking  becomes  extremely  monotonous  in  a  short 
time.  It  is  as  though  the  musician  were  to  attempt  to 
play  an  entire  selection  upon  a  single  key.  And  yet  how 
much  public  speaking  of  just  this  kind  do  we  hear  con- 
stantly !  It  would  seem  as  if  many  speakers  were  quite 
unaware  that  such  a  thing  existed  as  variety  in  expression. 

This  monotony  is  usually  due  to  one  of  two  things  : 
either  the  speaker  is  not  thinking  about  what  he  is  saying 
or,  if  he  is  really  thinking,  he  does  not  know  how  to  use 
his  voice  so  as  to  express  to  others  what  is  in  his  own  mind. 

Obviously  the  ear  cannot  long  endure  absolute  monot- 
ony. It  demands  change  of  some  kind.  If  the  speaker 
does  not  comply  with  this  demand,  his  audience  will  either 

i86 


PITCH  187 

remain  respectfully  in  their  seats  and  doze  or  gradually 
get  up  and  leave  him.  Just  as  in  music  there  is  constant 
change,  —  change  in  pitch,  in  rate,  in  stress,  and  in  color, 
—  so  in  all  speech  that  is  to  be  effective  there  must  be 
like  change.  All  expression  is  dependent  upon  this  prin- 
ciple. This  involves  a  consideration  of  the  four  so-called 
elements  of  vocal  expression  that  may  be  employed  in 
securing  change,  namely,  pitch,  time,  quality,  and  force. 

Pitch  as  a  vocal  element.  Pitch  in  speech  is  the  raising 
or  lowering  of  the  voice  to  express  different  degrees  and 
shades  of  thought  or  emotion.  It  is  dependent  upon  the 
rate  of  the  vibrations  of  the  vocal  cords.  If  the  cords  are 
tightly  drawn  the  vibrations  are  very  rapid  and  the  pitch 
of  the  voice  is  high.  If  the  cords  are  less  tense  the  vibra- 
tions are  slower  and  the  pitch  of  the  voice  is  low.  There 
seems  to  be  a  common  misconception  with  beginners  that 
pitch  is  determined  by  the  amount  of  force  applied  to 
the  vocal  ligaments  by  the  breath  stream  from  the  lungs  ; 
that  if  a  good  deal  of  breath  is  employed  the  pitch  will 
be  high,  and  that  if  less  is  used  the  pitch  will  be  low. 
This  is  not  at  all  the  case.  There  may  be  a  great  deal 
of  breath  sent  against  the  cords  and  the  pitch  be  very 
low,  or  there  may  be  very  little  breath  employed  and 
the  pitch  be  very  high.  All  depends  upon  the  tension 
to  which  the  cords  are  drawn. 

This  in  turn  is  dependent  upon  the  mental  and 
emotional  state  of  the  speaker.  Strong  emotions  have 
a  very  marked  influence  upon  vocalization.  Anger  or 
extreme  rage  will  often  so  affect  the  voice  that  the  vocal 
cords  refuse  to  act,  and  the  person  is  unable  for  some  sec- 
onds to  speak  at  all ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  pleasing 


1 88  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

emotions,  such  as  generosity  or  love,  tend  to  have  just 
the  opposite  effect  upon  the  vocal  mechanism,  making  it 
singularly  easy  for  the  speaker  to  use  his  voice  expressively. 
In  a  similar  manner  different  mental  states  of  the  speaker 
have  an  influence  upon  the  muscles  that  govern  vocaliza- 
tion. Many  of  these  responses  are  involuntary.  We  are 
interested  more  particularly  with  the  voluntary  actions 
of  the  muscles  as  they  respond  to  conscious  promptings 
from  the  brain. 

The  melody  of  speech.  The  speaking  voice  has  a  scale, 
or  range,  through  which  it  may  travel,  just  as  does  the 
singing  voice.  As  the  singer  is  constantly  attacking  dif- 
ferent points  of  pitch  up  and  down  the  scale  in  the  expres- 
sion of  various  shades  of  thought  and  feeling,  so  the 
speaker  should  be  constantly  letting  the  voice  play  up  and 
down  this  scale  to  express  his  ideas.  This  is  known  as 
vocal  melody. 

In  one  sense  the  vocal  melody  of  the  speaker  is  more 
difficult  than  that  of  the  singer,  in  that  the  singer  has  his 
melody  all  worked  out  for  him  and  set  down  in  the  form 
of  definite  notes ;  while  the  speaker  has  merely  his  own 
thoughts,  and  is  obliged  to  manufacture  his  melody  as  he 
goes  along.  The  singer  can  give  his  entire  attention  to 
vocal  interpretation,  while  the  speaker  has  the  double  duty 
of  oral  composition  and  vocal  improvisation,  both  of  which 
must  be  accomplished  at  the  same  time.  This  makes  his 
task  doubly  difficult,  and  is  the  reason  why  the  beginner 
is  usually  so  confused  when  he  tries  to  think  and  to  use 
his  body  at  the  same  time. 

Many  speakers,  even  after  long  experience,  never  seem 
to  learn  that  it  is  just  as  essential  for  the  voice  to  travel  up 


PITCH  189 

and  down  the  scale  in  speech  as  it  is  in  song.  Indeed,  it 
is  astonishing  how  many  speakers  there  are  whose  vocal 
melody  approaches  almost  complete  monotony !  Some 
people  speak  in  a  monotone  both  in  private  conversation 
and  in  public  address.  But  it  is  interesting  to  observe 
that  many  people  who  speak  with  a  reasonable  degree  of 
vocal  flexibility  in  conversation,  strike  an  almost  dead  level  ^ 
when  they  come  to  address  an  audience.  This  is  often 
due  to  a  conception  that  private  conversation,  being  more 
or  less  informal,  needs  no  special  or  peculiar  tone ;  so 
by  merely  letting  the  voice  go,  it  flexes  itself  naturally. 
But  the  moment  they  rise  to  speak  they  assume  a  more 
formal  tone,  that  is  often  very  inflexible  and  almost  expres- 
sionless. How  different  it  would  be  if  they  understood 
fully  the  instrument  that  they  are  using  and,  like  the 
organist,  knew  how  to  use  all  the  stops ! 

The  compass  of  the  speaking  voice.  The  compass  of 
the  speaking  voice  may  be  arbitrarily  divided  for  purposes 
of  this  discussion  into  an  upper  range,  a  middle  range, 
and  a  low  range.  Some  people,  particularly  those  of  a 
nervous,  high-strung  temperament,  sometimes  have  voices 
which  are  keyed  so  high  that  they  seem  never  to  descend 
below  the  upper  range.  This  makes  the  tones  sound 
shrill  and  strident.  The  ear  of  the  listener  is  held  con- 
stantly at  a  tension  and  soon  longs  for  the  satisfying 
tones  of  the  lower  registers.  Then  there  are  others, 
usually  of  the  opposite  temperament,  who  suppress  their 
tones,  speak  under  the  breath  or  in  the  throat,  and  seem 
rarely  ever  to  lift  the  voice  above  the  lower  register.  This 
mode  of  speech  does  not  hold  the  ear  at  a  tension  like 
that  of  the  voice  that  is  keyed  high,  but  is  usually  almost 


I90  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

as  annoying,  for  the  low-keyed  voice  is  often  hard  to 
understand.  The  mumblers  belong  to  this  class  and 
those  who  speak  as  though  they  were  always  just  a  little 
afraid  that  someone  would  overhear  their  conversation. 
The  voice  that  continues  constantly  in  any  one  of  the 
three  ranges,  whether  it  be  high,  middle,  or  low,  is  sure 
to  be  monotonous,  for  it  is  limited  to  one  third  of  the 
compass  that  it  ought  to  have. 

False  adjustments  of  the  voice.  A  great  many  speakers 
have  the  idea  that  by  holding  the  voice  on  a  high  plane 
of  pitch  and  using  big  tones  they  are  making  their  speech 
very  effective.  The  truth  is  that  it  is  usually  very  ineffec- 
tive. The  high  pitch  and  the  loud  tones  lend  themselves 
to  a  grandiloquent  style  of  speech  that  is  both  monot- 
onous and  inexpressive  of  genuine  thought  or  feeling. 
Then  sometimes  the  speaker  thinks  that  by  holding  the 
voice  down  and  continuing  on  a  low  plane  he  is  making 
his  words  very  weighty  and  impressive.  To  be  sure, 
impressiveness  may  be  gained  in  just  this  way  if  there 
be  the  proper  emotion  back  of  it,  but  it  often  becomes 
ludicrous  when  the  hearers  understand  that  it  is  merely 
a  trick. 

The  means  of  securing  variety  that  used  to  be  employed 
by  the  old-time  exhorter  furnishes  an  interesting  study  in 
pitch.  The  speaker  would  assume  a  very  high  plane  of 
pitch  and  continue  without  variation  for  a  considerable 
time,  working  into  a  veritable  frenzy.  Then  of  a  sudden 
the  voice  would  drop  to  a  low  level,  the  speaker  seem- 
ing to  think  that  he  was  thereby  making  his  speech  very 
effective.  Such  a  use  of  the  voice  is,  in  fact,  not  at  all 
effective.    It  is  merely  a  movement  of  the  voice  up  and 


PITCH  191 

down  in  a  purposely  mechanical  way,  without  regard  to 
the  thought  or  feelina;  to  be  expressed. 

The  starting  point  in  the  study  of  pitch.  The  point 
of  departure  in  the  study  of  pitch  is  the  so-called  middle 
key,  that  is  commonly  employed  in  normal  conversation. 
This  key  differs  greatly  with  different  individuals.  What 
would  be  a  middle  key  for  one  voice  might  seem  a  high 
.key  to  one  whose  vocal  apparatus  is  tuned  rather  low,  and 
vice  versa.  The  female  voice  is  usually  keyed  somewhat 
higher  than  the  male  voice,  and  the  voice  of  the  child 
much  higher  than  that  of  the  adult.  This,  however,  is  not 
the  important  consideration.  Differences  due  to  nature  all 
will  recognize,  but  unfortunately  voices  of  unnatural  key 
are  often  developed  unconsciously.  The  termagant  woman 
acquires  unconsciously  a  high-keyed,  strident  voice  from 
constantly  scolding  her  family.  Children  in  the  grades 
are  sometimes  encouraged  to  vie  with  one  another  in 
answering  questions  put  by  the  teacher,  until  they  develop 
that  shrill,  metallic  voice  that  has  been  characterized  by 
foreigners  as  the  ''American  voice."  How  different  in 
the  schools  of  many  countries  where  pupils  are  taught  to 
use  mellow  tones  in  a  pleasing  key  ! 

Public  speakers  on  rising  to  address  an  audience  often 
hold  the  voice  in  a  strained,  unnatural  key  that  is  entirely 
foreign  to  the  general  pitch  of  their  conversation.  It  is 
faults  of  this  kind  that  have  to  be  overcome  in  order  to 
make  speech  effective. 

In  the  study  of  pitch  there  are  two  essentials : 

I.  Establishing  a  pleasing,  normal  key  for  all  ideas 
that  naturally  find  expression  in  an  ordinary  conversa- 
tional tone. 


192  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

II.  Gaining  the  vocal  flexibility  whereby  the  voice 
will  pass  readily  through  all  the  pljines  of  pitch,  whether 
middle,  high,  or  low,  as  the  thought  may  require. 

I.  Key 

In  regard  to  the  first  point  it  is  evident  that  many 
voices  are  keyed  too  high  to  be  pleasing  for  public  speech. 
It  may  be  due  to  habits  continued  from  childhood  or  to 
assuming  a  high-pitched  tone  on  rising  to  speak.  What- 
ever the  cause,  such  voices  must  be  brought  down  before 
they  are  pleasant  to  listen  to.  This  can  best  be  done 
by  sitting  down  and  engaging  in  conversation  with  some- 
one whose  natural  speaking  voice  is  well  keyed.  Speak 
slowly  and  let  the  ear  catch  the  difference  in  pitch  of 
the  two  voices.  Continue  speaking  in  a  tone  that  seems 
more  and  more  confidential  until  the  voice  is  gradually 
brought  down  from  its  high  level  to  a  plane  that  seems 
to  be  exactly  suited  to  this  conversation. 

Then  stand  up,  as  if  to  make  a  public  speech,  letting 
the  other  person  act  as  auditor.  Be  certain  that  the  voice 
does  not  become  artificial  and  go  back  to  its  original  high 
level.  Speak  in  very  much  the  same  confidential  tone  as 
before,  only  loud  enough  for  the  voice  to  carry  easily  to 
all  parts  of  the  room.  Direct  every  word  straight  at  the 
auditor.  Use  the  vocative,  calling  him  by  name  at  the 
beginning  of  every  few  sentences.  Let  him  answer  back 
in  a  conversational  tone,  establishing  all  the  conditions  of 
the  most  direct  communicative  address.  These  devices,  if 
persistently  used,  will  do  more  than  almost  anything  else 
to  overcome  that  artificiality  of  speech  which  is  due  to 
lifting  the  voice  to  a  strained,  unnatural  key. 


PITCH  193 

The  same  exercise  may  be  used  if  the  tone  is  pitched  too 
low  and  the  voice  seems  harsh  and  throaty,  the  problem 
here  being  to  bring  the  voice  up  to  a  normal  key,  just 
as  in  the  former  case  it  was  to  bring  it  down. 

Other  devices  may  be  used  with  good  results  if  prac- 
ticed in  the  right  manner.  If  the  voice  is  pitched  low 
and  seems  flat  and  lifeless,  it  is  well  to  read  or  declaim 
passages  full  of  life  and  vigor  that  ascend  into  a  high 
plane  of  pitch,  as  the  lines  from  "  Macbeth,"  Act  II,  scene  iii, 
spoken  by  Macduff  upon  the  discovery  of  the  murder  of 
King  Duncan  : 

Awake,  awake  I 
Ring  the  alarum-bell.    Murder  and  treason ! 
Banquo  and  Donalbain  !  Malcolm  !  awake  ! 
Shake  off  this  downy  sleep,  death's  counterfeit, 
And  look  on  death  itself !  up,  up,  and  see 
The  great  doom's  image  !    Malcolm  !  Banquo  I 
As  from  your  graves  rise  up,  and  walk  like  sprites, 
To  countenance  this  horror. 

If  the  voice  is  high  and  strained,  lines  of  a  tranquil 
nature  that  tend  to  require  a  rather  low  plane  of  pitch 
may  be  used,  as : 

Sweet  and  low,  sweet  and  low, 

Wind  of  the  western  sea.  —  Tennyson 

And  I  saw  the  night  come  down  on  that  house, 
falling  gently  as  the  wings  of  an  unseen  dove.  And  the 
old  man  —  as  a  startled  bird  called  from  the  forest,  and 
the  trees  were  shrill  with  the  cricket's  cry,  and  the  stars 
were  swarming  in  the  sky  —  got  the  family  around  him, 
and  taking  the  old  Bible  from  the  table,  called  them  to 
their  knees.  —  Henry  W.  Grady,  "  Homes  of  the  People  " 


194  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

Then  unemotional  lines  expressive  of  everyday,  matter- 
of-fact  things  may  well  be  used  as  illustrative  of  the 
medium  between  these  two  extremes,  as  : 

Two  days  afterward  I  went  to  visit  a  friend  in  the 
country,  a  modest  man,  with  a  quiet  country  home.  It 
was  just  a  simple,  unpretentious  house,  set  about  with  big 
trees,  encircled  in  meadow  and  field  rich  with  the  promise 
of  harvest.  —  Henry  W.  Grady,  "  Homes  of  the  People  " 

A  third  exercise  that  may  be  used  is  to  utter  clearly 
and  distinctly  the  sounds  of  a^  e,  2,  o,  it  and  to  count 
from  I  to  10,  lifting  the  voice  to  a  high  plane  of  pitch. 
Repeat  the  exercise,  dropping  the  voice  to  a  low  plane. 
Repeat  again,  letting  the  voice  follow  a  middle  plane,  and 
so  on  until  the  ear  becomes  accustomed  to  the  change, 
and  the  voice  keys  itself  readily  to  one  plane  or  another 
without  effort. 

n.  Flexibility 

The  second  consideration,  that  of  gaining  vocal  flexi- 
bility, is  one  that  usually  requires  much  more  attention 
than  the  establishing  of  a  normal  key.  It  is  probable  that 
the  voices  which  are  improperly  keyed  are  the  exception 
rather  than  the  rule,  but  the  percentage  of  untrained 
speakers  who  have  even  passably  flexible  voices  is  com- 
paratively small.  Here  it  is  the  voice  that  travels  in  an 
almost  expressionless  monotone  that  is  the  rule  rather 
than  the  exception,  and  it  is  the  problem  of  nearly  every 
beginner  to  get  away  from  the  hopelessly  dead  level 
along  which  the  voice  tends  to  travel.  Clearly  this  line 
of  monotony  must  be  broken  in  some  way  if  the  speaker 
is   to  have   an   adequate   means   of   expressing   himself 


PITCH  195 

through  pitch.  The  Hne  of  monotony  may  be  illustrated 
by  such  an  expression  as  the  following : 

Rich  gifts  wax  poor  when  givers  prove  unkind. 

Whatever  may  be  in  the  mind  of  the  speaker  as  he  utters 
these  words,  surely  very  little  is  conveyed  to  the  hearer  so 
long  as  the  voice  travels  without  variation  from  this  hori- 
zontal line.  But  let  his  thought  be  stimulated  so  that  this 
line  of  monotony  will  be  broken,  and  note  the  result : 

Rich  poor  unkind 

gifts  givers 

wax  when  prove 

As  soon  as  the  speaker  comes  really  to  think  intently 
upon  what  he  is  trying  to  express,  each  important  part 
will  tend  to  be  set  higher  in  pitch  than  the  lesser  parts 
of  the  sentence,  so  that  a  meaning  that  is  both  clear  and 
emphatic  is  conveyed  ;  while  no  such  impression  is  gained 
when  the  voice  continues  on  a  single  level.  In  the  study 
of  pitch  the  student  should  learn  to  step  from  point  to 
point  upon  the  speaking  scale,  setting  important  ideas 
high,  subordinating  the  less  important  ones  to  a  lower 
plane,  and  by  constant  discriminations  of  this  kind  giving 
the  same  shade  and  color  to  his  thought  that  the  musician 
is  giving  constantly  upon  his  instrument. 

The  influence  of  song  in  speech.  But  expression  through 
pitch  consists  of  something  more  than  setting  words 
upon  different  levels.  If  each  word  were  placed  upon  a 
given  level  and  sustained  there  during  its  utterance,  then 
all  speech  would  be  song.  This  is  what  happens  in  the 
utterance  of  a  note  of  song.  A  given  plane  is  attacked, 
the  note  held  on  that  exact  plane  until  it  has  been  given 


196  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

its  full  value,  then  released  and  another  like  attack  made 
with  the  voice.  In  speech  the  mode  of  utterance  is  very 
different.  A  given  plane  is  attacked,  but  the  voice  is  not 
sustained  and  made  to  vibrate  at  a  given  point  as  it  is 
in  song.  Every  tone  of  speech  travels  either  up  or  down 
the  scale,  and  this  upward  or  downward  movement  is 
commonly  called  inflection.  The  following  diagram  will 
make  clear  the  difference  in  the  action  of  the  voice  in 
song  and  in  speech  : 


1 

/      i«. 

>|             id 1 

/              \ 

1           ei=. 

y     e^                 \ 

ad 1 

a^ 

By  uttering  the  vowels  a,  e^  and  i  as  notes  of  song, 
as  above  indicated,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  first  song 
note,  uttered  as  a,  travels  upon  a  horizontal  plane  of 
pitch  until  the  note  is  given  its  proper  value.  It  is  then 
dropped  and  a  new  attack  made  for  the  vowel  e ;  then 
this  is  dropped  in  like  manner  and  another  attack  made 
for  the  vowel  i.  A  comparison  of  this  action  of  the 
voice  with  the  same  three  vowels  uttered  as  inflections  of 
speech  will  make  clear  that  in  the  utterance  of  a  as  the 
first  speech  inflection  the  voice  does  not  travel  on  a  hori- 
zontal line,  as  in  the  notes  of  song,  but  strikes  upward, 
taking  a  somewhat  vertical  course,  and  we  have  a  rising 
inflection  of  the  voice.  E  uttered  as  the  second  inflection 
also  strikes  upward,  and  z  uttered  as  the  third  inflection 
strikes  downward  and  is  a  falling  inflection.  A  compari- 
son of  these  two  movements  of  the  voice  shows  that  speech, 
like  song,  makes  constant  new  attacks  in  pitch,  but,  unlike 
song,  takes  a  definite  vertical  course  instead  of  a  horizontal 


PITCH  197 

one.  This  is  very  important  for  the  speaker  to  understand, 
since  it  is  one  of  the  common  faults  of  pubHc  speaking. 

Some  speakers  who  think  themselves  effective  are  quite 
unaware  that  their  speaking  is  almost  pure  song.  It  is 
not  uncommon  to  hear  whole  sermons  given  in  notes  of 
song,  with  few,  if  any,  inflections  of  speech.  Liturgical 
reading  or  the  saying  of  the  mass  is  very  properly  ren- 
dered in  notes  of  song,  but  this  mode  of  delivery  has  no 
place  in  the  sermon  proper  or  upon  the  public  platform. 
It  is  known  as  the  ''singing  tone,"  and  is  by  no  means 
uncommon  with  supposedly  skilled  speakers. 

Another  habit,  which  is  perhaps  more  common,  is  that 
of  the  speaker  who  does  not  employ  song  altogether,  but 
who  seasons  his  speaking  with  occasional  song  notes  that 
give  a  peculiarly  monotonous,  "singsong"  effect  to  his 
entire  method.  These  usually  occur  upon  individual  words 
ending  in  euphonious  vowel  sounds  that  lend  themselves 
very  readily  to  the  singing  tone.  They  are  frequently 
heard  on  the  final  syllable  of  such  words  as  "  nation," 
"union,"  "liberty,"  "humanity,"  pronounced  "nation-n-n," 
"union-n-n,"  "libert-e-e,"  "humanit-e-e."  This  element  of 
song  is  due  chiefly  to  poor  enunciation.  The  organs  of 
articulation,  instead  of  releasing  the  sound  at  the  proper 
time,  prolong  it  unduly,  and  a  distinct  note  of  song  is  the 
result.  Speakers  who  employ  it  are  invariably  tiresome. 
It  has  its  place  in  liturgical  reading  and  in  certain  forms 
of  emotional  poetry,  but  no  proper  place  in  ordinary 
speaking  and  should  never  be  used. 

Along  with  this  singing  of  individual  words  is  a  simi- 
lar incorrect  form  of  vocal  melody  which  occurs  upon  con- 
secutive words  that  are  of  about  equal  value  and  should 


198  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

be  given  equal  prominence  by  the  voice.    The  following 

will  illustrate : 

I  every  own 

that  should  have  his 

maintain  man  ideals 

Here  the  speaker  arbitrarily  sets  one  word  high  and 
the  next  word  low  with  almost  entire  disregard  of  the 
thought  that  should  govern  the  expression.  By  setting 
the  words  ''I,"  ''every,"  and  ''own"  high  in  pitch  they 
are  given  a  prominence  which  the  context  does  not  war- 
rant, while  the  words  "maintain,"  "man,"  and  "ideals," 
which  clearly  carry  the  thought  of  the  sentence  and 
should  be  made  prominent,  are  given  subordinate  place. 
The  "  I  "  has  no  special  importance  in  the  sentence  that 
should  make  it  take  rank  above  "maintain,"  but  is  insep- 
arably linked  with  it  and  tends  to  stand  on  the  same  pitch 
level.  So,  likewise,  with  the  other  pairs  of  words  of  the 
sentence.  This  mode  of  dropping  the  voice  arbitrarily, 
without  regard  to  the  meaning,  is  usually  more  monoto- 
nous than  the  use  of  a  singing  tone  on  individual  words. 
It  generally  occurs  in  almost  every  sentence,  with  a 
regularity  that  shows  a  decided  lack  of  mental  discrimi- 
nation and  reduces  the  speaker's  delivery  to  a  rhythmical 
swing  that  is  mechanical  in  the  extreme. 

This  fault  serves  to  reemphasize  the  importance  of 
plain  conversation  as  the  basis  for  all  good  speaking. 
When  the  voice  is  guided  by  the  mind  it  generally 
attacks  a  higher  level  of  pitch  in  the  expression  of  ideas 
that  are  important,  and  a  lower  level  for  those  that  are 
subordinate.  Thus  there  is  the  natural  flexibility  of  the 
voice   that  is   heard   in  all  animated  conversation.     But 


PITCH  199 

when  the  mind  becomes  more  or  less  passive,  or  when 
the  speaker  assumes  a  kind  of  ''  speaker's  tone,"  then 
the  artificial  swing  is  likely  to  take  the  place  of  conver- 
sational variety,  and  monotony  is  the  result. 

The  important  thing  is  that  the  speaker  or  reader  be 
able  to  employ  the  same  flexibility  of  voice  that  he  would 
in  all  probability  use  if  he  became  engaged  in  an  earnest 
argument.  In  this  case  the  voice  would  travel  through 
pitch  with  much  vigor,  in  response  to  the  emotional 
conditions  induced  by  the  argument ;  while,  if  he  were 
to  appear  before  an  audience  for  a  formal  speech,  the 
chances  are  that  all  of  the  elements  of  conversation 
would  disappear  and  a  "  speaker's  tone,"  with  some  one 
or  all  of  the  faults  that  have  been  mentioned,  would  be 
used.  Or  if  he  were  to  attempt  to  read  something  for- 
mally, a  distinct  ''reader's  tone"  would  very  likely  take 
the  place  of  the  natural  variety  of  communication. 

Lively  flexibility  of  the  voice  usually  indicates  lively 
activity  of  the  mind ;  so,  just  as  in  action  or  in  any  other 
means  of  expression,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  pri- 
mary cause,  the  mental  and  emotional  stimuli  that  prompt 
the  voice  to  move  in  a  lively  fashion  up  and  down  through 
the  range  of  pitch.  If  the  voice  of  the  speaker  is  flat  and 
lifeless,  continuing  almost  without  variation  on  a  single 
level,  the  first  step  is  to  stimulate  vigorous  thinking.  It  is 
of  little  value  for  the  teacher  to  show  the  pupil  how  this 
effect  or  that  may  be  gained  by  a  movement  of  the  voice 
up  or  down,  if  there  is  no  stimulus  in  the  pupil's  mind 
that  will  prompt  such  action.  If  the  voice  is  unrespon- 
sive to  the  thought,  let  the  teacher  put  very  pointed  ques- 
tions to  the  pupil  regarding  the  subject  under  discussion. 


200  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

drawing  him  out  and  discovering  how  much  he  really 
knows  about  it.  In  this  way  the  pupil  will  be  obliged  to 
concentrate.  If  his  mind  has  been  passive,  and  his  ideas 
are  merely  floating  along  in  his  consciousness,  this  will 
serve  to  wake  him  up ;  and  in  order  to  answer  intelligently 
the  questions  put  to  him  he  will  unconsciously  employ 
lively  vocal  flexibility.  Every  resource  of  the  teacher 
should  be  employed  to  stimulate  his  thought  and  imagi- 
nation and  to  aid  him  in  giving  expression  to  them.  In 
doing  this  it  is  desirable  to  keep  the  mechanical  side  of 
,  the  vocal  action  as  much  in  the  background  as  possible. 

One  writer  upon  this  subject  has  said,  "  Many  of  the 
modulations  of  the  voice  are  as  involuntary  as  the  twinkle 
of  the  eye."i  This  is  exactly  what  should  be  true  of  all 
modulations  of  the  voice  ;  in  fact,  of  all  vocal  action  what- 
soever. The  speaker  ought  never  to  have  to  think  whether 
.  the  voice  is  acting  in  one  way  or  another.  He  should  be 
V/  able  to  use  his  voice  so  that  it  unconsciously  mirrors  what 
is  taking  place  in  his  mind  ;  and  for  purposes  of  practical 
speaking  this  can  best  be  accomplished  by  centering  the 
attention  chiefly  upon  the  thought  to  be  expressed  and 
by  giving  attention  to  the  mechanics  of  the  process  only 
as  it  is  found  to  be  necessary. 

If  a  student  has  a  naturally  flexible  voice  and  employs 
good  conversational  variety  in  both  his  private  and  public 
address,  surely  it  would  be  very  much  of  a  waste  of  time 
for  him  to  spend  any  considerable  amount  of  energy  on 
inflectional  drills.  For  practical  purposes  a  working  knowl- 
edge of  the  essentials  of  pitch,  rather  than  a  formal  study 
of  the  intricacies  of  technical  elocution,  is  desirable. 

1  Curry,  Lessons  in  Vocal  Expression,  p.  3. 


PITCH  20I 

Very  often  the  speaker  who  is  thoroughly  ahve  to 
his  subject  and  very  earnest  in  his  desire  to  impress  his 
hearers  will  speak  with  good  inflectional  variety.  If, 
however,  such  lively  activity  of  thought  does  not  result 
in  effective  expression,  inflectional  drills  may  be  resorted 
to.  In  this  case  it  is  desirable  to  understand  how  the 
voice  acts  as  it  passes  through  the  range  of  pitch,  and 
how  this  action  influences  actual  speaking.  Such  drills 
should  not  be  made  an  end  in  themselves,  but  merely 
a  means  for  more  effective  expression  of  the  speaker's 
thought.  All  mechanical  action  of  the  voice  should  be 
relegated  to  subconsciousness  as  rapidly  as  it  can  be 
made  a  vocal  habit. 

In  considering  the  movement  of  the  voice  through 
pitch,  it  may  be  said  that  it  acts  always  according  to 
two  principles  : 

I.  It  skips  from  one  point  in  pitch  to  another,  as 
when  consecutive  words,  or  consecutive  syllables  of  the 
same  word,  are  placed  on  different  levels. 

II.  It  glides  up  or  down  on  a  single  syllable. 

This  constant  skipping  or  gliding  movement  makes  it 
possible  for  the  speaker  to  convey  sentiments  ranging 
from  delicate  shades  of  thought  or  emotion  to  the  most 
intense  passion.  If,  for  instance,  he  is  moved  by  feelings 
so  intense  that  he  flies  into  a  rage,  his  expression  is  likely 
to  be  such  that  the  voice  will  move  with  skips  and  glides 
that  extend  through  the  whole  compass,  giving  tremen- 
dous emphasis  to  the  speaker's  words.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  expression  is  that  of  mild  or  tranquil  ideas,  the 
movement  of  the  voice  will  be  much  less  vigorous,  the 
skips  and  glides  being  very  much  shorter  and  less  abrupt. 


202  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  voice  skips  from  point 
to  point,  making  one  part  prominent  by  setting  it  high 
and  another  part  subordinate  by  giving  it  inferior  place. 
In  like  manner  its  action  as  it  glides  up  or  down  on  each 
syllable  shows  the  relative  importance  of  different  ideas 
and  expresses  varying  degrees  of  meaning.  These  glides, 
commonly  known  as  inflections,  are  of  three  kinds :  ris- 
ing, falling,  and  bending  (technically,  circumflex)  inflec- 
tions. It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  inflections 
of  the  voice  serve  merely  to  show  grammatical  relations; 
that  a  rising  inflection  must  be  used  at  every  comma  or 
interrogation  point  and  a  falling  inflection  at  every  colon 
or  period,  as  is  sometimes  taught  in  the  schools.  No  such 
mechanical  law  can  be  depended  upon.  Inflections  serve 
to  show  logical  rather  than  grammatical  relations.  A  sen- 
tence of  a  given  grammatical  structure  may  be  read  so  as 
to  express  many  different  meanings,  depending  upon  how 
the  voice  is  inflected  in  its  interpretation.  The  simple 
declarative  sentence  "He  will  go,"  if  read  with  rising 
inflections,  may  express  uncertainty  and  ask  for  informa- 
tion, as  if  it  said,  "  He  will  go,  will  he .? "  The  same 
sentence,  if  read  with  decisive  falling  inflections,  asserts 
with  positiveness,  ''He  will  go";  while,  if  read  with 
decided  bendings  of  the  voice,  it  might  express  sarcasti- 
cally the  absurdity  of  such  an  assertion,  as  if  to  say, 
''Yes,  he  will  be  likely  to  go!" 

In  brief,  it  may  be  said  that  all  expression  by  means 
of  vocal  inflection  depends  upon  the  thought  and  intent 
of  the  speaker.  If  the  inflections  of  the  voice  take  the 
form  of  a  movement  that  has  an  almost  mechanical 
regularity,  it  is  usually  an  indication  of  lax  thinking.   The 


PITCH  203 

speaker  who  does  not  express  himself  with  discrimination, 
but  allows  his  thoughts  to  float  along  in  a  loose  fashion, 
is  very  likely  to  fall  into  the  habit  of  using  one  kind  of 
inflection  very  much  to  excess.  Often  it  is  a  predomi- 
nance of  falling  inflections,  the  voice  dropping  constantly 
at  the  close  of  nearly  every  phrase,  regardless  of  whether 
or  not  the  thought  demands  it.  This  makes  the  delivery 
seem  heavy  and  lifeless.  The  constant  dropping  of  the 
voice  at  almost  regular  intervals  produces  a  form  of 
monotony  that  has  very  much  the  same  effect  upon  the 
ear  as  that  of  the  speaker  whose  voice  travels  nearly  on 
a  single  pitch  level. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  excessive  use  of  the  rising  in- 
flections. With  some  speakers  the  voice  never  seems  to 
fall  at  any  point,  but  to  strike  upward  constantly.  This 
impresses  the  ear  with  a  sense  of  continued  uncertainty 
and  lack  of  finality  of  purpose,  as  though  the  speaker 
were  never  quite  sure  of  himself.  In  a  similar  way  some 
speakers  use  an  excessive  number  of  bending  inflections 
of  the  voice,  which  make  them  appear  to  be  always  rather 
desirous  of  appearing  affable  and  ingratiating. 

To  speakers  who  are  monotonous  because  of  the  exces- 
sive use  of  one  kind  of  inflection  a  knowledge  of  the 
general  effect  of  the  voice  as  it  strikes  up  or  down  is  of 
much  value.  If  we  listen  to  the  effects  produced  by  the 
different  kinds  of  inflections,  it  is  at  once  apparent  that 
strokes  of  the  voice  upward  give  lightness  to  the  expres- 
sion ;  that  strokes  of  the  voice  downward  give  weight ; 
while  bends  of  the  voice  produce  effects  quite  different 
from  those  of  either  the  rising  or  the  falling  inflections. 
The  following  general  laws  of  inflection  make  its  use  clear : 


204  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

I.  Ideas  expressive  of  affirmation,  assurance,  confidence, 
positiveness,  decision,  determination,  conclusiveness,  and 
all  finality  of  thought  or  purpose  tend  to  take  the  falling 
inflection. 

The  following  words  of  Patrick  Henry  illustrate  the 
use  of  very  decisive  falling  inflections : 

We  have  petitioned;    we  have  remonstrated;    we  have 

N  V 

supplicated ;  we  have  prostrated  ourselves  before  the  throne, 
and  have  implored  its  interposition  to  arrest  the  tyrannical 

V 

hands  of  the  ministry  and  Parliament. 

II.  Ideas  expressive  of  uncertainty,  hesitation,  doubt, 
indecision,  suspense,  concession,  interrogation,  and  all  lack 
of  finality  of  thought  or  purpose  tend  to  take  the  rising 
inflection. 

/    /  /  / 

Well,  no,  I  am  not  at  all  certain,  but  I  think  possibly 
/  / 

such  a  course  of  action  under  certain  circumstances  might 

/ 
be  desirable. 

III.  Ideas  expressive  of  greater  intensity  of  thought 
or  purpose  than  those  usually  expressed  by  rising  or 
falling  inflections,  or  ideas  manifesting  a  double  motive, 
tend  to  take  the  bending  inflection. 

n  n  n  n 

I .  Ah,  I  am  delighted !   This  is  remarkable  1   A  wonderful 

piece  of  art ! 

Here  the  ecstasy  of  the  speaker  is  manifested  by  very 
emphatic  bends  of  the  voice  on  the  words  "Ah,"  ''de- 
lighted," ''  remarkable,"  "  wonderful,"  which  give  much 


PITCH  205 

more  color  and  purpose  to  the  speaker's  words  than  would 

rising  or  falling  inflections. 

u  u 

2.  Hath  a  dog  money  ?   Is  it  possible  a  cur  can  lend  three 

thousand  ducats  ? 

The  bitter  sarcasm  of  Shylock  manifests  itself  by 
decided  bendings  of  the  voice  on  the  words  ''  dog  "  and 
**cur,"  or  perhaps  upon  other  words  of  these  sentences, 
producing  an  effect  quite  different  from  what  it  would 
be  with  either  rising  or  falling  inflections. 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  FOR  SECURING  VOCAL  FLEXIBILITY 
BY  MEANS  OF  PITCH 

Exercises  in  Key 

I.  Utter  with  distinct  enunciation  a,  e^  i,  o,  u^  in  a 
monotone,  with  the  voice  keyed  to  a  normal,  middle  plane 
of  pitch ;  repeat  with  the  voice  keyed  to  a  high  plane  of 
pitch ;  repeat  with  the  voice  keyed  to  a  low  plane  of  pitch. 
Practice  different  adjustments  of  the  voice  in  pitch,  as : 
high,  middle,  low ;  low,  middle,  high  ;  middle,  low,  high. 
Work  for  ease  of  adjustment  till  the  voice  may  be  keyed 
without  effort  to  any  desired  plane  of  pitch. 

II.  Count  with  clear  enunciation  /,  ^,  J,  4,  5,  in  a 
monotone,  with  the  following  adjustments  of  the  voice : 
middle,  high,  low;  middle,  low,  high;  low,  middle,  high; 
high,  middle,  low. 

III.  Find  passages  from  literature  similar  to  those  on 
page  193  that  are  characteristically  of  high,  middle,  or 
low  key.  Read  these  passages  with  an  easy  adjustment 
of  the  voice  to  the  proper  key. 


206  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Exercises  in  Flexibility  by  Skips  of  the  Voice 

IV.  Pitch  the  voice  low  and  let  it  climb  the  scale  by 
gradually  ascending  steps  on  a^  e,  i,  o,  21 ;  pitch  the  voice 
high  and  let  it  descend  in  the  same  manner ;  pitch  the 
voice  low  and  let  it  ascend  and  descend  by  repeating 
a,  e,  i,  0,  u ;  practice  the  same  exercises  with  the  numerals 

I,  2,  J,  4,  5. 

V.  Let  the  voice  rise  by  gradual  steps  in  the  following 
sentences : 

1 .  What  is  it  that  gentlemen  wish  ? 

2.  What  would  they  have  ? 

3.  Shall  we  try  argument  ? 

4.  Shall  we  resort  to  entreaty  and  humble  supplication  ? 

5.  Have  we  anything  new  to  offer  upon  the  subject? 

Let  the  voice  descend  by  gradual  steps  in  the  following 
sentences : 

1 .  It  is  impossible  ! 

2.  We  shall  not  fail ! 

3.  We  are  not  weak  ! 

4.  Our  chains  are  forged !  ' 

5.  The  war  is  inevitable  —  and  let  it  come ! 

Let  the  voice  gradually  ascend  and  descend  in  the 
following  sentences : 

1.  I  have  but  one  lamp  by  which  my  feet  are  guided. 

2.  I  have  no  way  of  judging  of  the  future  but  by  the  past. 

3.  In  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  subject  ought 
to  be  the  freedom  of  the  debate. 


PITCH  207 

4.  The  question  before  the  house  is  one  of  awful  moment 
to  this  country. 

5.  I  consider  it  nothing  less  than  a  question  of  freedom 
or  slavery. 

Note.  The  sentences  above  should  be  read  with  definite  action 
of  the  voice  up  or  down  the  scale  for  practice  in  vocal  flexibility. 
No  doubt  they  might  very  properly  be  read  in  other  ways. 

VI.  Read  slowly  the  following  sentences,  observing  care- 
fully the  definite  steps  of  the  voice  through  the  range  of 
pitch  that  are  necessary  to  bring  out  the  meaning : 

1.  The  war,  then,  must  go  on.    We  must  fight  it  through. 

2.  If  the  war  must  go  on,  why  put  off  longer  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence .? 

3.  Why  then,  why  then  do  we  not  as  soon  as  possible 
change  this  from  a  civil  to  a  national  war.? 

4.  And,  since  we  must  fight  it  through,  why  not  put 
ourselves  in  a  state  to  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  victory,  if 
we  gain  the  victory.? 

5.  If  we  fail,  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.  But  we  shall 
not  fail. 

Exercises  in  Flexibility  by  Glides  of  the  Voice 

VII.  Speak  clearly  ^,  e,  /,  0,  ti,  with  a  marked  rising 
inflection  of  the  voice  on  each ;  repeat  by  giving  to  each 
a  decided  falling  inflection  ;  give  a  with  rising  inflection, 
e  with  falling,  and  alternate  the  inflections  in  the  same 
way  on  /,  o,  ti ;  give  -  a  with  falling  inflection,  e  with 
rising,  and  alternate  in  the  same  way  on  i,  0,  ti. 

VIII.  Count  /,  2,  J,  ^,  5,  varying  the  direction  of  the 
inflections  as  in  Exercise  I.    Count  /,  -?,  J,  /,  5,  varying 


2o8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

the  length  of  the  inflections  thus  :  five  very  long  rising 
inflections ;  five  very  short  rising  inflections ;  five  very 
long  falling  inflections  ;  five  very  short  falling  inflections  ; 
then  with  alternating  inflections,  long  and  short. 

IX.  Speak  the  sentence  *'  He  is  a  worthy  gentleman," 
expressing : 

1.  High  admiration  for  the  man. 

2.  A  mere  statement  of  fact. 

3.  Surprise  at  hearing  the  statement. 

4.  Mere  indifference  to  the  fact. 

5.  Doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  it. 

6.  A  strong  assertion  of  its  truth. 

7.  Sarcasm  in  regard  to  it. 

X.  Read  the  following  lines,  observing  carefully  the 
inflections  necessary  to  bring  out  the  meaning : 

1.  This  uncounted  multitude  before  me  and  around  me 
proves  the  feeling  which  the  occasion  has  excited.  These 
thousands  of  human  faces,  glowing  with  sympathy  and  joy, 
and  from  the  impulses  of  a  common  gratitude  turned  rever- 
ently to  heaven  in  this  spacious  temple  of  the  firmament, 
proclaim  that  the  day,  the  place  and  the  purpose  of  our 
assembling  have  made  a  deep  impression  on  our  hearts. 

2.  Venerable  men !  you  have  come  down  to  us  from 
a  former  generation.  Heaven  has  bounteously  lengthened 
out  your  lives,  that  you  might  behold  this  joyous  day.  You 
are  now  where  you  stood  fifty  years  ago,  this  very  hour, 
with  your  brothers  and  your  neighbors,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
in  the  strife  for  your  country.    Behold,  how  altered  ! 

Webster,  "  First  Bunker  Hill  Oration  " 


CHAPTER  IX 
TIME   ^ 

In  the  study  of  pitch  we  found  the  problem  to  be  one 
of  overcoming  monotony  and  rendering  speech  effective 
by  various  movements  of  the  voice  up  and  down  the 
speaking  scale.  In  a  similar  way,  by  means  of  the  time 
elements  of  speech  variety  may  be  secured  and  monotony 
overcome.  Anyone  who  has  stopped  to  consider  that  the 
chief  reason  why  some  speakers  are  ineffective  is  because 
they  speak  at  such  a  rapid  rate  that  they  are  hard  to 
understand,  and  that  others  speak  in  so  slow  and  lazy  a 
fashion  that  they  are  exceedingly  tiresome,  will  at  once 
recognize  the  importance  of  time  as  an  element  of 
effective  expression. 

Time,  as  a  vocal  element,  is  the  duration  of  utterance. 
It  has  to  do  with  three  principles  : 

I.  The    length    of    individual    sounds,    syllables,   and 
[words. 

II.  The  pauses  that  occur  between  words  and  groups 
)f  words. 

III.  The  rate  and  rhythm  of  utterance. 
These  principles  have  a  very  important  influence  in 

the  general  effectiveness  of  expression,  performing  a  func- 
tion not  unlike  that  of  pitch.  As  we  shall  see  later  in 
this  chapter  they  are  of  the  utmost  importance  in  secur- 
ing variety  in  speech. 

209 


2IO  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

I.    Quantity  Values  in  Speech 

In  considering  the  first  principle  —  the  length  of  indi- 
vidual sounds,  syllables,  and  words  —  we  find  that  some 
sounds  are  naturally  of  long  quantity,  others  short,  and 
still  others  of  medium  length.  Robert  Burns  character- 
izes the  sound  of  ^  as  *'  the  wailing  minstrel  of  despair- 
ing woe,"  and  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  speaks  of  the 
**  velvety  ^''s."  That  is  to  say,  some  sounds  lend  them- 
selves much  more  readily  than  do  others  to  the  expression 
of  given  sentiments. 

No  one  understands  the  principle  of  the  time  value  of 
sounds  better  than  the  poet,  who,  by  means  of  combina- 
tions of  sounds  of  certain  lengths,  is  able  to  produce 
remarkable  effects.  The  poetry  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe, 
some  of  which  is  little  more  than  mere  euphonious  sound, 
serves  to  illustrate  what  may  be  accomplished  by  combi- 
nations of  words  of  different  time  values.  Observe,  for 
instance,  his  imitation  of  the  great  iron-tongued  bells  of 
the  church  tower  : 

Hear  the  tolling  of  the  bells  — 
Iron  bells ! 

They  that  dwell  up  in  the  steeple, 

All  alone, 
And  who  tolling,  tolling,  tolling, 

In  that  muffled  monotone. 
Feel  a  glory  in  so  rolling 

On  the  human  heart  a  stone. 

A  very  different  description  is  that  of  the  tiny  bells 
of  the  sleigh.  Note  the  very  marked  difference  in  the 
predominating  sounds  of  the  following  lines  : 


TIME  211 

Hear  the  sledges  with  the  bells  — 
Silver  bells  1 
What  a  world  of  merriment  their  melody  foretells  1 
How  they  tinkle,  tinkle,  tinkle. 

In  the  icy  air  of  night ! 
While  the  stars  that  oversprinkle 
All  the  heavens,  seem  to  twinkle 
With  a  crystalline  delight. 

In  comparing  the  very  different  effect  of  these  two 
passages,  both  taken  from  the  same  poem,  we  find  that 
it  is  accomplished  by  a  skillful  combination  of  sounds  of 
similar  lengths  more  than  by  the  thought  contained  in 
the  lines.  The  prolonged  o  and  /  sounds  in  "  toll "  are 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  imitation  of  the  great  bells  of 
the  tower,  while  the  short  i  and  k  sounds  in  "  tinkle  "  are 
admirably  suited  to  the  silvery  bells  of  the  sleigh. 

Different  sounds  possess  very  different  time  values, 
and  these  have  a  marked  effect  upon  speech.  The 
sound  of  a  in  ''ate,"  in  "art,"  or  in  ''all,"  may  be 
prolonged  much  more  easily  than  that  of  a  in  "at,"  the 
latter  being  of  much  shorter  quantity.  Also  e  in  "me," 
i  in  "ice,"  o  in  "old,"  u  in  "use,"  possess  longer  time 
values  than  e  in  "  met,"  i  in  "  it,"  o  in  "  son,"  u  in  "  us." 

The  same  differences  in  quantity  are  found  with  the 
consonants.  The  sounds  of  /,  m,  n,  r,  v,  w,  are  easy- 
flowing  and  well  adapted  to  slow  and  prolonged  utter- 
ance ;  while  the  sounds  of  /,  k,  j,  g,  f,  h,  s,  b,  d,  are 
abrupt,  and  cannot  be  prolonged  to  any  extent  without 
becoming  a  kind  of  drawl. 

The  various  sounds  when  combined .  form  syllables  and 
words  of  long  or  short  quantities,  depending  upon  which 
class  of  sounds  predominates.    Combinations  of  sounds 


212  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

chiefly  of  long  quantities  form  words  like  ''on,"  "noon," 
"all,"  "roll,"  "law,"  "lowly,"  "roar,"  "murmur,"  "na- 
tional," "  memorable."  These  sounds  are  well  suited 
to  the  expression  of  such  sentiment  as  that  of  the 
following  lines  of  Gray's  "  Elegy  "  : 

The  plowman  homeward  plods  his  weary  way, 
And  leaves  the  world  to  darkness  and  to  me. 

Combinations  of  sounds  mostly  of  short  quantities,  as  in 
"at,"  "ax,"  "ask,"  "check,"  "pick,"  "speck,"  "stop," 
"arctic,"  "statistics,"  "perplex,"  "explicate,"  are  well 
suited  to  express  such  ideas  as  those  of  the  following 
lines  of  Tennyson  : 

I  chatter  over  stony  ways, 

In  litde  sharps  and  trebles, 
I  bubble  into  eddying  bays, 

I  babble  on  the  pebbles. 

While  lines  in  which  neither  element  predominates,  but 
that  are  made  up  of  about  an  equal  number  of  long  and 
short  sounds,  are  suited  to  the  less  unusual  forms  of 
expression,  as  : 

A  mother's  love ! 
If  there  be  one  thing  pure 
Where  all  beside  is  sullied ; 

That  can  endure 
When  all  else  pass  away ; 

If  there  be  aught 
Surpassing  human  deed,  or  word,  or  thought, 
It  is  a  mother's  love. 

Importance  of  quantity  values.  Considering  these 
differences  in  the  length  of  the  vowel  and  consonant 
sounds,   and   their   effect  as  they  are  employed   in  the 


TIME  213 

expression  of  various  sentiments,  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  abihty  of  the  speaker  or  reader  to  give  to  individual 
sounds  or  syllables  their  correct  time  values  is  of  much 
importance.  One  who  understands  nothing  of  the  time 
elements  of  speech  will  be  likely  to  try  to  express  things 
widely  different  in  character  with  nearly  uniform  time 
values.  This  results  not  only  in  the  failure  to  express 
the  thought  truly  but  in  a  form  of  monotony  very  sim- 
ilar to  the  monotone  in  pitch. 

This  is  not  uncommon  of  the  reading  in  our  schools. 
If  the  child  is  not  taught  to  appreciate  the  difference 
between  the  meditative  lines  of  "  Thanatopsis "  and  the 
animated  style  of  "  Paul  Revere's  Ride,"  his  lack  of  a 
sense  of  these  differences  will  be  almost  certain  to  make 
his  expression  uniform  and  lifeless. 

The  failure  to  discriminate  between  such  values  is 
usually  unconscious,  acquired  often  early  in  life.  In 
families  where  parents  have  the  habit  of  slow  or  drawl- 
ing speech,  the  children  very  often,  by  mere  imitation,^ 
use  the  same.  In  nearly  every  school  are  found  children 
who  drawl,  not  because  of  any  defect  of  the  organs  of 
speech,  but  merely  from  habits  due  to  environment. 

It  does   not  require  an   especially  discriminating  ear 
to  sense  the  marked  difference   in  the  time  values  of 
Tennyson's         j  chatter,  chatter,  as  I  flow 
To  join  the  brimming  river, 

and  Longfellow's 

And  in  the  hush  that  followed  the  prayer, 
Was  heard  the  old  clock  on  the  stair,  — 
"  Forever  —  never  1 
Never  —  forever ! " 


214  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Quantity  values  in  prose.  While  these  different  quan- 
tities are  an  ever-present  consideration  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  poetry,  they  are  no  less  important  in  prose. 
Compare  the  quantity  of  the  opening  lines  of  the  speech  of 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll  on  Napoleon  with  the  later  lines  of  the 
speech  which  describe  Napoleon's  military  campaigns,  and 
the  difference  in  the  quantity  values  of  prose  is  apparent. 

1.  A  little  while  ago  I  stood  by  the  grave  of  the  old 
Napoleon  —  a  magnificent  tomb  of  gilt  and  gold,  fit  almost 
for  a  dead  deity  —  and  gazed  upon  the  sarcophagus  of  rare 
and  nameless  marble,  where  rest  at  last  the  ashes  of  that 
restless  man. 

2.  I  saw  him  putting  down  the  mob  in  the  streets  of 
Paris.  I  saw  him  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  Italy!  I  saw 
him  crossing  the  bridge  of  Lodi  with  the  tricolor  in  his  hand. 
I  saw  him  in  Egypt  in  the  shadows  of  the  pyramids.  I  saw 
him  conquer  the  Alps  and  mingle  the  eagles  of  France  with 
the  eagles  of  the  crags.  I  saw  him  at  Marengo,  at  Ulm  and 
Austerlitz.  I  saw  him  in  Russia,  where  the  infantry  of  the 
snow  and  the  cavalry  of  the  wild  blast  scattered  his  legions 
like  winter's  withered  leaves.  I  saw  him  at  Leipsic  in  defeat 
and  disaster,  driven  by  a  million  bayonets  back  upon  Paris 
—  clutched  like  a  wild  beast  —  banished  to  Elba. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  speech  Ingersoll  portrays  a 
scene  of  awe  and  magnificence  —  a  man  standing  in 
silent  contemplation  before  the  gilded  tomb  of  the  great 
conqueror.  Language  is  chosen  that  suits  exactly  the 
atmosphere  of  the  scene.  The  words  ''ago,"  ''old," 
"Napoleon,"  "tomb,"  "gold,"  "rare,"  "nameless," 
"  marble,"  are  made  up  of  easy-flowing  sounds  which 
produce  just  the  effect  that  the  speaker  intended. 


TIME  215 

The  later  lines  of  the  speech  portray  an  atmosphere 
entirely  different.  Here  it  is  the  martial  tread  of  Napo- 
leon's armies  on  their  different  campaigns.  One  can 
almost  hear  the  tramp  of  the  soldiers'  feet  and  the 
hoof  beats  of  the  horses  in  the  movement  of  the  lines. 
The  words  employed  are  crisp  and  full  of  action.  The 
abrupt  "scattered,"  ''withered,"  "driven,"  "clutched," 
"banished,"  give  the  martial  effect  that  the  speaker 
desired  and  exactly  accomplish  his  purpose. 

Attention  to  quantity  values  fundamental.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Ingersoll  possessed  a  genius  for 
sound  and  color  that  few  orators  have  approached.  Yet 
every  skilled  speaker  employs  this  principle  to  some 
extent.  The  speaker  is  constantly  narrating  incidents, 
describing  objects,  explaining  processes,  portraying  scenes, 
and  he  needs  every  possible  resource  to  accomplish  his 
end.  If  he  gives  no  attention  to  quantity  values  in 
speech,  he  is  denying  himself  the  use  of  one  of  the 
very  effective  instruments  of  expression. 

The  speaker  who  utters  all  syllables,  regardless  of  their 
quantity  values,  in  an  abrupt  manner  is  not  able  to  give 
adequate  expression  to  a  great  range  of  sentiments,  such 
as  the  pathetic  or  the  sublime.  He  may  be  possessed 
genuinely  of  a  desire  to  express  such  a  sentiment,  and 
yet  be  wholly  unable  to  do  so  because  of  his  fixed  habit 
of  abrupt  utterance.  On  the  other  hand,  he  who  unduly 
prolongs  every  syllable,  whether  it  be  long  or  short,  finds 
it  equally  impossible  to  give  adequate  expression  to  that 
which  requires  abruptness  and  point. 

In  order  to  overcome  difficulties  of  this  kind,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  speaker  understand  the  different  time 


2l6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

values  of  our  language  and  the  influence  that  they  have 
upon  expression.  He  should  know  that  some  sounds  are 
of  so  long  quantity  that  they  may  be  easily  prolonged ; 
that  others  are  so  short  that  they  can  scarcely  be  pro- 
longed at  all ;  and  that  it  is  fatal  to  good  expression 
when  no  attention  is  given  to  these  values.  Accordingly 
it  is  necessary  that  he  be  discriminating  in  his  diction, 
and  that  he  be  able  to  give  to  the  elements  of  speech 
their  proper  values.  If  he  has  never  observed  the  differ- 
ences in  quantity  of  the  various  speech  elements,  and  has 
been  accustomed  to  give  to  all  sounds  and  syllables  an 
equal  length,  he  will  no  doubt  experience  much  difficulty 
in  overcoming  the  habit.  But  he  will  be  repaid  for  his 
pains,  since  a  true  evaluation  of  the  initial  elements  of 
speech  is  fundamental. 

Nowhere  is  the  importance  of  this  principle  more 
apparent  than  in  oratorical  composition.  To  be  successful 
with  this  style  of  writing  is  by  no  means  easy.  It  requires 
an  ability  to  sense  time  values  to  an  extent  that  the  verbal 
expression  will  harmonize  with  the  emotion.  In  fact,  in 
all  prose  that  is  more  or  less  emotional  we  find  a  certain 
tendency  towards  measured  utterance,  which  calls  into  use 
the  quantity  elements  of  speech.  For  instance,  the  writer 
who  attempts  to  express  a  feeling  of  strong  patriotism  by 
means  of  cold,  matter-of-fact  language,  that  might  be  very 
appropriate  for  an  essay,  fails  chiefly  because  he  does  not 
understand  quantity  values.  So  in  all  expression,  whether 
written  or  spoken,  it  is  desirable  to  gain  such  a  feeling 
for  the  quantity  values  of  language  that  one  becomes 
accustomed,  more  or  less  unconsciously,  to  suit  sound, 
to  sense. 


TIME  217 


II.  Pause 


The  second  principle  of  time  is  that  of  pause.  Pause 
is  the  cessation  of  utterance  between  the  logical  divisions 
of  speech.  All  language  is  made  up  of  a  series  of  ideas, 
presented  one  after  another  by  means  of  words  and 
groups  of  words.  In  order  to  grasp  the  thought,  the  mind 
must  rest  momentarily  upon  each  idea  as  it  is  presented. 
This  makes  necessary  a  slight  cessation,  or  pause,  after 
each  thought  group.  These  thought  groups,  each  contain- 
ing a  single  idea,  are  known  as  phrases,  and  the  process 
of  grouping  together  the  words  that  express  single  ideas 
is  known  as  phrasing. 

These  phrases  are  usually  closely  related,  and  the  pauses 
serve  not  only  to  separate  them  but  also  to  show  their 
relation  to  one  another  and  to  the  thought  as  a  whole. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  pause  serves  no  other 
purpose  than  to  separate  expression  into  its  component 
phrases.  Very  often  pause  is  the  determining  factor  that 
manifests  more  clearly  than  anything  else  the  thought 
and  purpose  of  the  speaker.  Consider  the  words  of 
Hamlet,  *'  To  be,  or  not  to  be  :  that  is  the  question." 
What  element  of  expression  could  portray  as  do  the 
weighty  pauses  of  this  line  the  feelings  of  the  young 
prince  as  he  soliloquizes  on  the  value  of  human  existence, 
where  a  soul  stands  in  the  borderland  between  a  known 
misery  and  an  unknown  eternity  ! 

The  first  question  relating  to  pause  is  the  consideration 
of  where  pauses  should  and  should  not  be  used ;  the 
second,  that  of  their  value  as  related  to  the  more  effective 
expression  of  the  speaker's  thought  as  a  whole. 


2l8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Pause  not  a  mechanical  principle.  First  let  us  consider 
where  pauses  may  properly  be  used.  The  suggestion  that 
is  sometimes  made  that  the  speaker  should  pause  before 
or  after  certain  parts  of  speech,  as  before  relative  pronouns 
and  after  intransitive  verbs,  is  of  little  value,  inasmuch 
as  it  directs  the  attention  to  the  mechanical  structure  of 
language  instead  of  to  its  logical  purpose.  It  should  be 
remembered  that  pause,  like  inflection,  serves  to  show 
logical  rather  than  grammatical  relations.  The  old-time 
schoolmaster  took  infinite  ~  pains  to  impress  his  pupils 
with  the  importance  of  pausing  for  a  certain  number  of 
counts  at  every  comma,  a  longer  time  at  every  semicolon, 
and  still  longer  at  every  period.  The  fact  is  that,  in  order 
to  show  true  logical  relations,  one  sometimes  makes  no 
pause  at  a  comma,  occasionally  pauses  several  times  as 
long  at  a  comma  as  at  a  semicolon  or  period,  and  makes 
pauses  constantly  where  there  are  no  marks  of  punctuation 
at  all.  This  goes  to  show  that  punctuation  is  not  a  reliable 
guide  for  the  voice.  In  fact,  it  is  not  intended  to  be.  It 
serves  merely  as  an  aid  to  the  eye  in  pointing  out  gram- 
matical relations.  The  eye  of  the  reader  is  able  usually 
to  catch  at  a  glance  the  relations  indicated  on  the  printed 
page,  often  traveling  several  phrases  in  advance  of  the 
thought  which  his  voice  is  expressing. 

Pause  necessary  to  reveal  the  thought.  The  ear  needs 
considerable  more  assistance  than  the  eye.  If  the  eye 
does  not  catch  at  first  glance  the  relations  indicated  upon 
the  printed  page,  it  can  go  back  and  take  its  time  in  dis- 
covering them.  This  the  ear  cannot  do.  If  the  thought 
relations  are  not  made  clear  by  the  voice  step  by  step  as 
the  speaker  proceeds,  they  are  lost  and  the  ear  has  no 


TIME  219 

opportunity  to  recover  them.  This  makes  necessary  a 
great  many  more  pauses  in  speaking  than  there  are  marks 
of  punctuation  in  writing.  The  tendency  nowadays  seems 
to  be  to  use  very  few  marks  of  punctuation,  in  fact  only 
just  enough  to  enable  the  eye  of  the  reader  to  see  the 
structural  relations  as  it  moves  across  the  printed  page. 
But  the  speaker  must  use  constantly  a  great  many  pauses 
to  make  clear  his  thought  as  he  proceeds,  and  also  pauses 
of  various  lengths  to  show  the  relations  of  the  different 
ideas.  This  makes  it  necessary  for  him  to  understand 
where  pauses  may  properly  be  used. 

Rhetorical  and  grammatical  pause.  The  most  common 
misuse  of  pause  is  that  of  confusing  grammatical  and 
rhetorical  pause.  Grammatical  pause  is  that  indicated  by 
marks  of  punctuation,  and  serves  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing clear  the  sentence  structure  ;  rhetorical  pause  is  that 
made  by  the  voice  of  the  reader  or  speaker,  and  is  used  to 
show  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  the  expression. 

Sometimes  rhetorical  pauses  coincide  with  the  gram- 
matical pauses,  as  in  this  sentence  from  Grady's  *' Homes 
of  the  People":  *'Two  days  afterward,  |  I  went  to  visit  a 
friend  in  the  country,  |  a  modest  man,  |  with  a  quiet  country 
home."  Here  a  rhetorical  pause  occurs  very  properly  at 
each  mark  of  punctuation,  since  the  punctuation  marks  in 
this  case  happen  to  occur  at  each  division  of  the  thought 
and  separate  the  sentence  into  the  correct  phrase  groups. 
But  very  often  they  do  not,  as  in  the  following  sentence 
from  the  same  speech:  ''The  old  man  got  the  family 
around  him,  and,  taking  the  old  Bible  from  the  table, 
called  them  to  their  knees."  Here  there  are  commas  both 
before  and  after  the  word   "and."     In  expressing  the 


220  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

thought  of  this  sentence  there  is  naturally  a  pause  at  the 
first  comma,  since  it  stands  at  the  end  of  the  first  thought 
group ;  but  the  voice  should  pass  over  the  comma  that 
follows  the  word  "and"  as  though  there  were  no  mark 
of  punctuation,  since  ''and"  is  merely  a  connective  word 
that  expresses  no  definite  idea  of  itself,  but  is  inseparably 
joined  to  the  second  phrase.  The  logical  division  of  the 
thought  as  indicated  by  the  proper  pauses  would  be : 
''  The  old  man  got  the  family  around  him,  |  and,  taking  the 
old  Bible  from  the  table,  |  called  them  to  their  knees." 

It  is  a  very  common  habit  of  speakers  who  are  not 
conversant  with  the  principles  of  proper  phrasing  to  pause 
after  introductory,  transitional,  or  connective  words,  such 
as  "and,"  "but,"  "for,"  "because,"  "also,"  "therefore," 
merely  because  such  words  are  frequently  followed  by 
commas. 

A  similar  error  is  that  of  failing  to  indicate  the  divi- 
sions of  thought  by  the  proper  pauses  because  no  marks 
of  punctuation  happen  to  occur  between  the  different 
phrases.  In  the  following  sentence  there  are  several 
clearly  defined  thought  groups  that  have  to  be  marked 
off  by  definite  pauses,  although  none  of  the  divisions  are 
indicated  by  marks  of  punctuation  :  "  And  I  felt  that  the 
sun  in  all  its  course  could  not  look  down  on  a  better  sight 
than  that  majestic  home  of  a  republic  that  has  taught  the 
world  its  best  lessons  in  liberty." 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  rhetorical  pauses  often  occur 
where  there  are  no  marks  of  punctuation,  and  that  marks 
of  punctuation  occur  where  there  is  no  necessity  for  pause. 
If  it  is  remembered  that  punctuation  shows  grammatical 
relations  and  that  pause  shows  thought  relations,  there  is 


TIME  221 

likely  to  be  little  difficulty  in  the  use  of  these  principles. 
The  main  difficulty  seems  to  be  either  in  confusing  the 
two  principles  or  in  employing  pause  somewhat  arbitrarily, 
with  little  attention  to  definite  thought  groups. 

The  true  foundation  of  phrasing.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  correct  phrasing  is  dependent  always  upon  the 
thought.  Each  idea,  although  related  to  the  ideas  that 
precede  it  and  to  those  that  follow,  stands  by  itself  in 
expression  as  a  unit ;  that  is,  as  the  mind  centers  upon 
an  idea,  all  other  ideas  are  for  the  time  being  excluded, 
and  as  that  idea  is  given  expression  the  voice  naturally 
groups  together  those  words  which  are  necessary  to  ex- 
press it.  But  if  there  is  no  such  definite  centering  of 
the  mind  upon  the  idea,  the  phrasing  will  be  very  im- 
perfect. It  will  take  the  form  either  of  a  great  number 
of  very  short  word  groups,  many  of  which  express  no 
thought  at  all,  or  of  a  few  very  long  word  groups,  each 
of  which  contains  several  entirely  distinct  ideas. 

Overphrasing.  The  first  is  probably  the  more  common. 
It  is  a  sure  indication  that  there  is  little  thought  back 
of  the  expression.  The  following  will  illustrate  :  *'  We 
know  I  that  |  this  policy  is  |  unwise  because  |  it  is  |  in- 
effective, I  and  so  |  we  plead  |  that  |  it  be  defeated." 
Here  the  pause  occurs  with  a  kind  of  regularity  after 
every  few  words  and  with  almost  no  regard  to  the  meaning. 
The  utterance  is  measured  off  bit  by  bit  as  though  pause 
were  something  to  be  determined  by  rhythmic  impulses  of 
the  voice  instead  of  by  the  logical  divisions  of  the  thought. 

If  we  try  to  think  the  thought  of  one  of  these  groups, 
we  shall  see  at  once  how  futile  is  such  expression.  What 
clear  or  definite  meaning  can  one  get  from  such  phrases 


222  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

as  ''  this  policy  is  "  or  ''  unwise  because  "  ?  When  the 
thought  units  are  broken  up  into  such  mere  fragments 
the  result  is  annoying  and  distracting  to  the  listener.  If 
he  gets  the  thought  at  all,  he  has  to  do  so  by  sheer  effort ; 
that  is,  he  has  to  be  constantly  translating  in  his  own 
thought  the  ideas  that  are  so  imperfectly  expressed  by 
the  speaker.  We  can  well  understand  how  much  of  an 
effort  this  becomes  when  the  audience,  in  order  to  get 
the  meaning,  is  obliged  to  readjust  mentally  almost  every- 
thing that  is  said. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  expression  were  by  thoiLght 
units,  we  should  have  such  phrases  as  '*  We  know  |  that 
this  policy  is  unwise  |  because  it  is  ineffective,"  which 
express  definite  ideas  clearly  and  require  no  such  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  listener  as  is  necessary  in  the  former  case. 

Too  little  phrasing.  The  other  extreme  is  that  of  in- 
cluding a  number  of  distinct  ideas  in  a  single  word  group. 
This  is  common  of  a  certain  type  of  declaimer,  who  pro- 
longs his  utterance  without  pause  as  long  as  his  breath 
holds  out,  then  takes  a  deep  breath  suddenly  and  con- 
tinues again  until  his  lack  of  breath  makes  another  pause 
necessary.  This  is  extremely  ludicrous  when  the  pause 
happens  to  come  between  parts  of  a  sentence  where  there 
is  no  need  for  pause,  or,  as  it  sometimes  does,  between 
the  syllables  of  a  single  word. 

Whether  it  be  the  fault  of  too  much  phrasing  or  too 
little,  both  are  equally  bad,  for  both  fail  to  reveal  the 
thought.  The  first  breaks  the  expression  into  many  frag- 
mentary bits,  some  of  which  express  no  meaning  at  all ; 
while  the  second  fails  to  mark  off  the  different  thought 
groups,  and  thus  leaves  the  meaning  obscure. 


TIME  223 

Phrasing  independent  of  mechanics  of  speech  structure. 
Moreover,  it  should  not  be  supposed  that  correct  phrasing 
can  be  acquired  by  mere  attention  to  the  mechanics  of 
speech  structure.  If  the  thought  is  hazy  in  the  mind  of 
the  speaker,  no  mechanical  application  of  pause  will  make 
it  clear  to  the  listener. 

It  is  entirely  erroneous  to  suppose  that  any  given  num- 
ber of  words  constitutes  a  phrase.  Very  often  a  single 
word  conveys  as  complete  and  definite  meaning  as  a  large 
group.  In  *' Julius  Caesar,"  when  the  infuriated  mob  is 
about  to  burn  the  house  of  Brutus,  they  shout :  *'  About ! 
Seek  !  Burn  !  Fire  !  Kill !  Slay  !  Let  not  a  traitor  live  !  " 
Here  each  idea,  except  the  last,  is  expressed  by  a  single 
word ;  while  in  the  following  lines  of  Patrick  Henry  each 
idea  is  expressed  by  long  word  groups  :  "  If  we  mean  to 
preserve  inviolate  those  inestimable  privileges  for  which 
we  have  been  so  long  contending — if  we  mean  not  basely 
to  abandon  the  noble  struggle  in  which  we  have  been 
so  long  engaged,  and  which  we  have  pledged  ourselves 
never  to  abandon  until  the  glorious  object  of  our  contest 
shall  be  obtained  —  we  must  fight!  " 

Whether  the  phrase  be  long  or  short  makes  no  differ- 
ence. If  a  single  word  expresses  a  definite  idea  by  it- 
self and  does  not  require  the  assistance  of  other  words 
to  make  clear  the  meaning,  it  constitutes  a  rhetorical 
phrase  as  truly  as  a  long  group  of  words  that  might 
be  employed  to  express  the  same  idea. 

Phrases  not  fixed  and  invariable.  Neither  should  it 
be  supposed  that  phrases  are  never  subject  to  change. 
A  sentence  that  can  have  but  one  meaning  while  stand- 
ing alone,  and  therefore  can  be  phrased  in  but  one  way, 


224  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

may  take  on  a  very  different  meaning  when  placed  in 
relation  to  other  sentences.  Thus  phrasing  becomes  a 
variable  factor  in  expression,  depending  upon  the  thought 
as  fit  is  determined  by  the  context.  This  will  be  taken 
up  more  fully  under  the  study  of  emphasis. 

Pausing  within  a  phrase.  We  find  also  that  pause 
sometimes  occi^rs  within  a  phrase,  although  but  a  single 
unit  of  thought  is  expressed.  This  occurs  when  some 
part  of  the  phrase  needs  special  emphasis  in  order  to 
make  the  thought  clear,  as  ''  The  scenes  of  his  child- 
hood had  vanished  |  forever."  By  a  definite  pause  in  the 
midst  of  the  last  phrase  the  idea  is  made  considerably 
more  emphatic  than  it  would  be  if  it  were  read  merely 
''had  vanished  forever." 

How  to  gain  clear  expression  by  phrasing.  From  these 
considerations  we  see  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
phrasing  according  to  set  rule.  While  the  function  of 
phrasing  is  to  reveal  clearly  each  unit  of  expression,  we 
know  that  every  such  unit  is  so  inseparably  linked  with 
what  has  gone  before  and  what  is  to  follow  that  the 
mind  must  be  thoroughly  awake  or  there  is  certain  to  be 
the  slurring  of  a  number  of  thought  units,  or  the  break- 
ing up  of  single  units  into  such  bits  that  their  meaning  is 
partially  or  entirely  lost.  Absolute  clearness  of  thought 
is  the  only  thing  that  will  insure  clear  expression  by 
means  of  phrase  groups.  In  order  to  gain  clear  expres- 
sion in  this  way,  it  is  necessary  that  the  attention  of  the 
speaker  be  kept  constantly  upon  his  subject  while  he  is 
speaking.  The  moment  the  mind'  goes  woolgathering  and 
the  centers  of  attention  become  hazy,  much  of  the  mean- 
ing is  lost  to  the  audience.    Two  things  are  essential : 


TIME  225 

1.  The  speaker  must  keep  his  mind  fixed  constantly 
upon  what  he  desires  to  express. 

2.  He  must  try  to  give  his  hearers  a  definite  impression 
of  each  idea  as  it  occurs. 

The  faithful  observance  of  these  two  principles  for 
a  sufficient  length  of  time  will  give  one  a  mastery  of 
phrasing  such  that  no  further  attention  will  need  to 
be  given  consciously  to  it. 

Pause  indicative  of  thought  relations.  But  pause  is 
used  not  alone  to  indicate  phrase  groups  ;  it  performs 
also  the  very  important  function  of  showing  the  relation 
of  these  groups  to  each  other  and  to  the  thought  as  a 
whole.  Accordingly,  pauses  are  of  different  lengths,  some 
being  short,  others  long,  and  still  others  of  medium  length, 
depending  upon  what  the  pause  serves  to  express. 

Pause  often  more  expressive  than  words.  In  some 
instances  the  pauses  are  even  more  expressive  of  what 
is  taking  place  in  the  speaker's  mind  than  are  the  words 
themselves.  The  soliloquy  of  Hamlet,  ''  To  die,  —  to 
sleep,  —  to  sleep  !  perchance  to  dream  !  ay,  there  's  the 
rub,"  may  be  spoken  with  such  weighty  pauses  as  will 
manifest  more  clearly  what  must  have  been  in  the  back- 
ground of  Hamlet's  consciousness  than  do  the  phrases 
themselves.  Very  often  the  speaker,  in  moments  of  great 
potential  earnestness,  is  able  to  impress  his  hearers  more 
profoundly  by  mere  suspense  of  utterance  than  by  any 
word  that  is  spoken.  By  the  effective  use  of  pause  a 
whole  theater  may  be  held  in  breathless  suspense  and 
the  emotions  deeply  touched. 

Pause  stimulates  thought.  The  fact  that  pause  is 
merely  silence   does   not   imply   that   the   mind   of   the 


226  ELEMENTS   OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

hearer  is  inactive  throughout  its  duration.  A  moment  of 
weighty  pause  is  usually  a  time  of  the  most  vigorous 
mental  activity,  when  the  mind  is  held  at  close  tension 
and  the  hearer  senses,  as  it  were,  all  that  is  being  said 
between  the  lines  or,  to  be  more  exact,  ''between  the 
phrases." 

Correlation  with  other  principles.  Pauses  are  of  differ- 
ent lengths  to  suit  the  sentiment  to  be  expressed.  If 
the  expression  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  requires  a  very 
slow  rate  of  utterance,  the  pauses  tend  to  be  correspond- 
ingly long.   Note  this  in  Cassius'  parting  words  to  Brutus  : 

For  ever,    |    and  for  ever,    |    farewell,    |    Brutus  I 

Here  there  is  the  expression  of  very  great  feeling.  It  is 
a  parting  that,  as  they  suppose,  is  for  all  time. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  expression  is  of  quick  move- 
ment, the  pauses  will  be  correspondingly  short,  as  in  these 
lines  from  Wallace's  ''  Ben  Hur  "  : 

The  trumpet  sounded  short  and  sharp.  |  Forth  from  each 
stall,  I  like  missiles  in  a  volley  from  so  many  great  guns,  | 
rushed  the  six  fours ;  |  and  up  the  vast  assembly  arose,  | 
electrified  and  irrepressible,  |  and  leaping  upon  the  benches,  | 
filled  the  circus  and  the  air  above  it  with  yells  and  screams. 

Thus  we  find  that  pause  performs  in  expression  a 
function  not  unlike  that  of  inflection.  It  serves  not  only 
to  marl^  off  distinct  ideas  and  to  show  their  relation  to 
one  another,  but  it  also  enables  one,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
sense  that  which  is  behind  and  between  what  is  actually 
expressed  by  words. 

The  beginner  will  not  go  far  in  actual  speaking  until 
he  comes  to  see  the  value  of  effective  pause.    He  will 


TIME  227 

soon  discover  that  a  few  moments  of  silence  before  begin- 
ning his  speech  are  of  great  value  in  gaining  attention. 
He  will  find  that  if  he  continues  to  pour  out  words  in 
an  endless  stream,  it  soon  becomes  so  monotonous  that 
people  refuse  to  listen  to  him ;  and  that  for  clear  expres- 
sion of  his  thought  it  is  necessary  to  mark  off  different 
ideas,  and  to  show  the  relation  between  them,  by  pauses 
that  are  very  often  more  expressive  than  words. 

The  "  ah  "  and  "  uh  '*  habit.  One  thing  in  particular 
that  should  be  guarded  against  in  the  use  of  pause  is 
that  of  filling  space  between  utterances  with  the  unpleasant 
sounds  of  **ah  "  and  "  uh."  Nearly  all  beginners  commit 
this  fault  when  they  attempt  to  speak  extempore,  and  it 
is  by  no  means  uncommon  with  speakers  of  experience. 
It  is  probable  that  most  speakers  who  have  this  very 
unpleasant  mode  of  utterance  are  quite  unconscious  of  it. 
In  the  case  of  beginning  speakers  it  very  soon  fixes 
itself  as  a  habit  if  it  is  not  checked  at  the  start.  It  is 
'a  fault  so  serious  that  it  should  never  be  passed  by  with- 
out criticism  and  helpful  suggestion  from  the  teacher. 

Cause  of  the  habit.  This  habit  usually  has  its  inception 
in  lax  thinking.  The  speaker  has  a  general  idea  of  what 
he  wants  to  say,  but  it  is  perhaps  more  or  less  vague, 
and  as  he  feels  his  way  along  through  his  speech,  he 
is  likely  to  connect  all  of  his  ideas  loosely  with  ''and," 
"so,"  "for,"  "but,"  and  similar  link  words,  and  to 
follow  these  connectives  with  "ah"  and  "uh"  sounds 
until  his  expression  is  for  the  most  part  without  pause. 
It  becomes  an  almost  continuous  stream  of  utterance,  as 
"He  decided-ah  that-ah  he  would-ah  go-ah,  and  so-ah 
he  started-ah  his  preparations-ah." 


228  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Its  influence  upon  delivery.  When  the  speaker  has 
followed  this  easy-going  mode  of  delivery  for  a  time,  he 
finds  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  overcome.  It  is  the  kind 
of  speech  habit  in  which  ''  an  ounce  of  prevention  is 
worth  a  pound  of  cure."  The  time  to  check  it  is  at  the 
very  start,  before  it  has  a  chance  to  fix  itself.  Fortunate 
are  those  students  who  are  required  to  employ  good  oral 
English  during  their  high-school  course,  and  are  never 
allowed  in  any  recitation  to  express  themselves  in  the 
loose,  slipshod  fashion  that  so  soon  gives  rise  to  this 
very  objectionable  habit ! 

An  interesting  experiment  that  has  just  been  made  at 
the  University  of  Wisconsin  is  that  of  having  a  steno- 
graphic record  taken  of  the  speeches  of  students  who 
have  the  *'ah"  and  '*uh"  habit,  in  order  that  comparisons 
may  be  made  and  each  student  be  enabled  to  see  by 
means  of  cold  type  how  far  he  is  at  fault  in  this  respect. 
In  most  instances  the  students  were  astonished  when 
confronted  with  the  undeniable  evidences  of  their  loose- 
ness of  speech.  They  were  for  the  most  part  entirely 
unaware  that  they  had  any  such  habit. 

The  remedy.  This  laxness  in  delivery  can  be  overcome 
by  clear  thinking  and  close  attention  to  it  while  speaking. 
The  speaker  must  practice  speaking  slowly,  thinking  each 
thought  clearly  as  he  goes  along,  and  pausing  definitely 
where  pauses  are  necessary.  In  this  way,  by  much  per- 
sistent practice  he  will  finally  be  able  to  overcome  the 
fault,  although  it  may  require  months  to  do  it. 

Pause  gives  variety  and  impressiveness.  Finally,  it  may 
be  said  that  pause  is  one  of  the  effective  means  of  gain- 
ing variety  and  thereby  overcoming  general  monotony  in 


TIME  229 

speech.  Like  inflection,  it  aids  the  speaker  in  making 
careful  discriminations,  in  weighing  and  balancing  the 
thought,  in  giving  to  different  ideas  their  relative  values, 
and  particularly  in  rendering  speech  impressive.  The 
speaker  will  very  soon  learn  how  pausing  before  an  im- 
portant idea,  or  both  before  and  after  it,  gives  it  promi- 
nence and  impresses  it  upon  his  hearers,  as : 

1.  If  I  cannot  carry  you  with  me  by  facts  and  sound 
arguments,  I  do  not  wish  you  to  go  with  me  at  all ;  and  all 
that  I  ask  is  simply  |  fair  play. 

2.  The  things  required  for  prosperous  labor,  prosperous 
manufacturers,  and  prosperous  commerce  are  three :  first,  | 
liberty;  |  second,  |  liberty;  |  third,  |  liberty. 

3.  Were  my  soul  trembling  on  the  verge  of  eternity, 
were  my  hand  freezing  in  death,  were  this  voice  choking 
in  the  last  struggle,  I  would  still  with  the  last  impulse  of 
that  soul,  with  the  last  wave  of  that  hand,  with  the  last 
gasp  of  that  voice  implore  you  to  remember  this  truth :  | 
God  has  given  America  to  be  free. 

III.    Movement 

The  third  principle  of  time,  that  of  movement,  has  to 
do  with  the  rate  and  the  rhythm  of  speech. 

1.  Rate  is  the  rapidity  or  slowness  of  utterance. 

2.  Rhythm  is  the  more  or  less  measured  swing  of 
the  line. 

Rate.  The  importance  of  the  first  principle  is  at  once 
apparent.  Most  beginners  speak  altogether  too  rapidly. 
Usually  the  first  thing  the  teacher  has  to  do  is  to 
check  the  pupil  in  his  hurry  to  say  the  thing  and  get  it 
over  with.    This  is  very  commonly  due  to  embarrassment. 


230  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  student  is  not  accustomed  to  stand  before  people  and 
express  his  thoughts.  He  is  embarrassed  and  ill  at  ease. 
Very  probably  his  legs  are  threatening  to  give  way  under 
him.  He  is  unable  to  collect  his  thoughts,  and  the  natu- 
ral thing  for  him  to  do  is  to  try  to  hurry  through  the 
speech  as  fast  as  he  can. 

Importance  of  deliberation.  The  first  important  step 
toward  good  speaking  is  for  the  speaker  to  have  a  very 
definite  idea  in  mind,  and  to  stand  up  and  try  to  express 
that  idea  clearly  and  deliberately,  remembering  all  the 
time  that  he  must  speak  so  that  his  audience  will  be 
able  to  think  the  thought  with  him.  It  requires  many 
attempts  for  most  people  to  be  able  to  do  this,  but  the 
ability  to  do  just  this  much  must  be  acquired  before  a 
great  deal  else  of  importance  can  be  done  to  improve 
the  effectiveness  of  one's  speech. 

All  good  speaking  rests  upon  the  principle  of  employ- 
ing sufficient  deliberation  for  the  thought  to  be  clearly 
understood  and  easily  followed.  It  is  not  an  unwise  thing 
to  assume  at  the  beginning  that  one  naturally  speaks  too 
rapidly,  and  to  attempt  from  the  first  to  cultivate  delibera- 
tion. Then  as  soon  as  the  speaker  becomes  the  master 
of  his  rate  of  utterance,  so  that  he  experiences  no  diffi- 
culty in  speaking  slowly  and  distinctly  and  thinking 
clearly  as  he  goes  along,  he  will  have  no  trouble  in  mak- 
ing his  speech  rapid  or  animated  as  the  circumstances 
may  require. 

Rapid  speaking.  It  should  not  be  inferred  from  what 
has  been  said  of  the  importance  of  deliberation  in  speech 
that  rapid  speaking  is  necessarily  undesirable.  Very  rapid 
speaking   is   sometimes  very  good   speaking.    Men   like 


TIME  231 

President  Vincent  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  who 
speak  at  an  astonishingly  rapid  rate,  are  often  very  effec- 
tive because  of  their  remarkably  clear  enunciation.  But 
this  would  hardly  do  for  a  beginner.  It  requires  great 
skill  to  do  it  successfully,  and  such  skill  is  not  usually 
gained  except  by  years  of  experience  upon  the  platform. 

Influence  of  temperament.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  such 
a  thing  as  speech  that  is  so  deliberate  that  it  becomes 
tedious.  But  it  is  a  fault  that  is  probably  far  less  com- 
mon than  that  of  too  rapid  speaking.  This  is  not  often 
due  to  any  desire  to  employ  deliberate  speech,  but  is 
chiefly  temperamental.  A  person  is  usually  slow  in  his 
speech  movements  for  the  same  reason  that  he  is  slow 
in  his  bodily  movements.  If  he  is  temperamentally  phleg- 
matic, neither  his  body  nor  his  mind  has  the  alertness  of 
one  who  is  temperamentally  sanguine.  A  person  of  the 
former  temperament  is  not  likely  to  become  a  very  dynamic 
speaker,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  he  may  not  become 
a  very  acceptable  speaker.  If  his  speech  is  of  a  slow  and 
drawling  nature,  his  thinking  may  be  so  stimulated  that 
his  rate  of  utterance  will  be  greatly  improved. 

The  determining  factors  of  rate.  In  general  there  is 
usually  little  need  of  admonishing  young  speakers  of  the 
danger  of  speaking  too  deliberately.  If  one  can  think 
the  thought  clearly  and  express  it  with  good  deliberation, 
the  chances  are  small  of  one's  experiencing  any  difficulty 
in  the  "speeding  up"  process,  as  it  may  become  necessary. 

It  is  important  that  mere  temperamental  tendencies  do 
not  become  the  controlling  factors  of  expression.  Just  as 
the  person  of  phlegmatic  temperament  has  a  tendency  to 
employ  a  rather  slow  and  lazy  rate  of  utterance,  so  one 


232  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

who  is  naturally  nervous  and  high-strung  is  likely  to 
speak  altogether  too  rapidly.  Neither  can  overstep  tem- 
peramental tendencies  entirely,  but  neither  should  allow 
these  tendencies  to  dominate.  The  factor  that  should 
always  determine  one's  rate  of  utterance  is  the  thought 
or  the  emotion  to  be  expressed. 

Guiding  principles.  The  same  general  principles  of 
time  apply  to  the  rate  of  utterance  as  to  pauses  or  to 
the  length  of  individual  sounds. 

1.  Sentiments  that  are  expressive  of  the  important  or 
weighty,  as  dignity,  awe,  grandeur,,  reverence,  devotion, 
solemnity,  pathos,  tend  to  take  a  slow  rate  of  utterance. 

2.  Sentiments  that  are  expressive  of  the  light,  trivial, 
joyous,  sprightly,  exciting,  impatient,  defiant,  violent,  and 
the  like  usually  take  a  rapid  rate  of  utterance. 

3.  Sentiments  that  are  expressive  of  that  which  is 
unemotional,  matter-of-fact,  commonplace,  didactic,  narra- 
tive, descriptive,  expository,  usually  require  a  moderate 
rate  of  utterance. 

These  principles  are  by  no  means  altogether  compre- 
hensive as  showing  all  the  cases  in  which  utterance  may 
be  of  slow,  rapid,  or  moderate  rate.  No  rules  could  be 
laid  down  that  would  be  entirely  comprehensive,  since 
much  depends  upon  the  taste  of  the  individual  speaker. 
These  principles  serve  merely  to  show  the  general  laws 
of  the  rate  of  utterance  and  their  relation  to  the  other 
elements  of  expression.  No  one  would  be  likely  to  ex- 
press solemn  ideas  by  a  very  rapid  rate  of  utterance  or 
that  which  is  joyous  and  sprightly  with  a  funereal  slowness. 

The  important  thing  is  that  all  expression,  in  order  to 
be  effective,  should  have  variety.    There  must  be  variety 


TIME  233 

in  the  time  elements  the  same  as  in  the  pitch,  quality,  and 
force  elements  of  speech.  It  is  essential  that  the  speaker 
know  where  and  how  that  variety  may  best  be  gained. 

Rate  as  a  means  of  securing  variety.  One  very  soon 
discovers  that  rate  is  a  valuable  means  of  securing  em- 
phasis. When  an  idea  is  presented  for  the  first  time  and 
needs  to  be  made  clear  and  emphatic,  a  slow  rate  of  utter- 
ance will  accomplish  this  end  much  better  than  a  rapid 
rate.  So  we  find  that  in  formal  address  speakers  do  not 
usually  plunge  into  their  discourse  and  speak  at  a  very 
rapid  rate  at  first,  but  they  begin  somewhat  deliberately, 
speaking  at  a  rather  slow  or,  at  least,  moderate  rate.  In 
this  way  the  subject  is  opened  up  gradually,  and  there  is 
opportunity  to  make  clear  each  new  idea  as  it  is  pre- 
sented. It  has  also  the  advantage  of  furnishing  variety, 
by  contrast  with  the  more  rapid  utterance  that  will  follow 
as  the  speaker  enters  into  the  body  of  his  discussion. 

Likewise,  the  rate  of  delivery  tends  to  be  slower  in  the 
conclusion  of  a  formal  speech  than  throughout  the  discus- 
sion. It  is  at  the  close  that  the  speaker  usually  takes 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  impress  and  reenforce 
what  he  has  already  discussed.  The  slow  rate  of  utter- 
ance, being  an  especial  agent  of  impressiveness,  furnishes 
one  of  the  best  means  of  accomplishing  this  end. 

So  the  speaker  will  continue  to  find  that  those  ideas 
which  require  special  prominence  and  weight  naturally  find 
expression  in  a  rate  of  utterance  that  is  slow  and  there- 
fore more  impressive ;  that  other  ideas  that  are  merely 
incidental,  or  that  need  less  emphasis,  are  passed  over 
rapidly ;  and  that  constantly  the  rate  is  varied  to  suit  the 
different  degrees  of  thought  and  feeling. 


234  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Rhythm.  The  second  principle  of  movement  —  the 
rhythm  of  speech  —  is  usually  of  more  concern  to  the 
vocal  interpreter  of  literature  than  to  the  public  speaker. 
Yet  it  is  a  principle  that  the  speaker  cannot  disregard,  for 
all  speech  has  rhythm.  There  is  a  rhythm  of  prose  as 
well  as  of  poetry.  The  rhythm  of  poetry  is  more  exact 
than  the  rhythm  of  prose,  and  takes  the  form  of  a  definite 
meter,  or  measure,  for  each  line,  as  : 

Tell  me  not,  in  mournful  numbers, 

Life  is  but  an  empty  dream  !  — 
For  the  soul  is  dead  that  slumbers, 

And  things  are  not  what  they  seem. 

Here  we  find  that  the  lines  have  a  rhythm  of  exact 
mechanical  regularity,  the  metrical  form  consisting  of  a 
given  number  of  poetic  feet,  each  of  which  is  made  up 
of  a  heavy  touch  of  the  voice  followed  by  a  lighter  one. 
By  comparing  the  meter  of  these  lines  with  the  following 
lines  of  the  same  author,  one  will  readily  sense  a  difference, 
in  the  rhythmic  form  of  poetry : 

A  hurry  of  hoofs  in  a  village  street, 
A  shape  in  the  moonlight,  a  bulk  in  the  dark. 
And  beneath,  from  the  pebbles,  in  passing,  a  spark 
Struck  out  by  a  steed  flying  fearless  and  fleet. 

Both  of  these  passages,  although  of  very  different 
rhythmical  form,  possess  a  regularity  of  movement  that 
is  pleasing. 

In  the  following  lines  from  "  Julius  Caesar  "  the  meter, 
although  not  so  prominent  as  in  the  passages  just  quoted, 
is  none  the  less  suited  to  its  purpose : 

Friends,  Romans,  countrymen,  lend  me  your  ears ; 
I  come  to  bury  Caesar,  not  to  praise  him. 


TIME  235 

The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them ; 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones ; 
So  let  it  be  with  Caesar. 

This  comparison  shows  how  widely  different  in  charac- 
ter are  the  rhythmical  forms  of  poetry,  yet  how  each  may  be 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  expression  of  a  desired  sentiment. 
Rhythm  used  to  impress  the  ear.    Sometimes  we  find 
that  rhythm  is  employed  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing unusual  and  fantastic  effects.    Whenever  the  purpose 
of  the  poet  is  to  impress  the  ear  by  the  rhythmic  move- 
ment of  the  lines,  we  are  likely  to  find  very  unusual  and 
striking  effects,  as  in  the  following  lines  from  Herrick : 
Thus  I 
Pass  by 

And  die 
As  one 
Unknown 
And  gone. 

In  Kipling's  "  Boots  "  a  very  peculiar  rhythmic  form  is 
employed  in  describing  the  almost  maddening  experience 
of  a  British  soldier  who  is  obliged  to  march  day  after 
day,  with  no  respite  from  the  sight  of  the  movement 
of  the  myriads  of  marching  feet.  Observe  the  striking 
rhythmic  effect  of  the  lines  : 

We  're  foot  slog  —  slog  —  slog  —  sloggin'  over  Africa ! 
Foot  —  foot  —  foot  —  foot  —  sloggin'  over  Africa  1 
Boots  —  boots  —  boots  —  boots,  movin'  up  and  down  again! 
There  's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 

'T  aint  —  so  —  bad  —  by  —  day  —  because  o'  company. 
But  night  —  brings  —  long  —  strings  o'  forty  thousand  million 
Boots  —  boots  —  boots  —  boots,  movin'  up  and  down  again  1 
There 's  no  discharge  in  the  war ! 


236  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  different  types  of  poetic  feet  may  be  of  interest  to 
the  student  in  connection  with  his  study  of  speech  rhythm, 
but  it  is  unnecessary  to  go  into  detailed  discussion  of 
them  here.  Any  good  book  of  versification  will  furnish 
the  desired  information. 

The  rhythm  of  prose.  The  student  of  speaking  is 
interested  more  particularly  in  the  rhythm  of  prose.  We 
find  that  in  prose  the  rhythm  does  not  commonly  take 
the  form  of  definite  meter,  as  it  does  in  poetry.  It  is 
a  considerably  freer  rhythm,  the  character  of  its  move- 
ment depending  chiefly  upon  emotional  conditions.  Under 
the  influence  of  strong  emotion,  as,  for  instance,  exalted 
patriotism,  one's  expression  is  likely  to  be  much  more 
rhythmical  than  under  ordinary  circumstances.  This  prin- 
ciple is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  speeches  of  Lincoln, 
most  of  which  are  very  rhythmical,  and  some  of  which 
furnish  specimens  of  pure  poetry,  as : 

Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray, 

That  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away. 

Here  we  finii  not  only  rhythm  but  also  perfect  meter  and 
rime.  Much  of  the  Gettysburg  address  has  a  similarly 
striking  metrical  form. 

The  speeches  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  show  the  same 
tendency  of  rhythmical  utterance  in  the  expression  of  an 
exalted  theme.  Observe  the  remarkable  rhythm  of  the 
following  lines  from  his  ''  Vision  of  War  "  : 

These  heroes  are  dead.  They  died  for  liberty  —  they 
died  for  us.  They  are  at  rest.  They  sleep  in  the  land  they 
made  free,  under  the  flag  they  rendered  stainless,  under 
the  solemn  pines,  the  sad  hemlocks,  the  tearful  willows, 


TIME  237 

and  the  embracing  vines.  They  sleep  beneath  the  shadows 
of  the  clouds',  careless  alike  of  sunshine  or  of  storm,  each  in 
the  windowless  palace  of  rest. 

The  speeches  of  Henry  W.  Grady  abound  in  such 
rhythmical  utterance,  and  in  the  great  speeches  of  Webster 
it  is  unmistakable.  Who  has  not  sensed  the  splendid 
rhythm  of  the  famous  peroration  : 

Spread  all  over  in  characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all 
its  ample  folds,  as  they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land, 
and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other 
sentiment,  dear  to  every  true  American  heart,  —  Liberty 
and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable ! 

Now  let  us  compare  with  these  examples  of  highly 
emotional  prose  a  specimen  of  prose  that  is  entirely 
unemotional  : 

We  are  often  asked  what  we  think  about  certain  books 
or  persons  or  lines  of  conduct.  It  is  humiliating  to  be 
obliged  to  say,  "  I  really  don't  know,"  or  to  waver  between 
two  opinions.  As  we  grow  older  it  becomes  necessary  to 
decide  for  ourselves,  quickly,  decisively,  and  accurately,  our 
personal  opinions  on  books,  on  persons,  on  principles,  and 
on  questions  public  and  political  as  well  as  social  and  moral. 

Here  the  rhythmic  element  is  much  less  marked  than 
in  the  emotional  passages  quoted  above,  yet  there  is  a 
rhythm  that  may  be  readily  detected  if  one  reads  the  lines 
slowly  for  the  purpose  of  sensing  the  movement  of  the 
utterance.  So  we  find  that  all  prose  has  a  certain  rhythm, 
and  that  there  are  as  wide  differences  in  the  nature  of  it 
as  there  are  in  the  different  forms  of  poetry.  It  ranges 
all  the  way  from  very  regular  and  measured  movement, 
as  in  prose  that  is  highly  emotional,  to  a  rhythm  that  is 


238  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

hardly  noticeable,  as  in  prose  that  is  wholly  matter-of-fact. 
Usually  the  more  rhythmical  forms  of  prose  are  the  more 
pleasing  to  the  ear.  Who  is  there  who  does  not  experience 
pleasure  in  listening  to  such  eloquence  as  transcends  the 
commonplace  expression  of  everyday  speech  and  partakes 
of  the  splendid  rhythm  of  Ingersoll,  Lincoln,  or  Webster  ? 

It  is  the  natural  form  of  expression  which  every  speaker 
who  has  a  spark  of  eloquence  in  his  soul  is  certain  to  use 
when  he  is  moved  by  feelings  of  a  deep  sense  of  patriot- 
ism or  other  similar  sentiments  that  give  rise  to  intense 
emotion  and  great  earnestness.  The  fault  that  must  be 
carefully  guarded  against  is  that  of  falling  into  a  rhyth- 
mical swing  for  the  expression  of  everything,  whether 
emotional  or  unemotional.  This  is  all  too  common  with 
beginners,  and  is  one  of  the  worst  forms  of  monotony. 

Practical  importance  of  speech  rhythm.  Let  the 
speaker  understand  that  for  the  expression  of  strong 
emotions,  such  as  feelings  of  exalted  patriotism,  he  may 
very  properly  yield  to  a  decidedly  rhythmical  utterance. 
This  he  will  readily  understand  as  he  makes  a  study  of 
oratorical  composition.  But  to  use  a  distinctly  rhythmic 
mode  of  speech  for  the  expression  of  commonplace  things 
is  merely  a  monotonous  habit  and  expresses  nothing.  For 
practical  purposes  of  delivery  one  may  safely  follow  the 
principle  that  the  general  rhythm  of  the  speaker's  utter- 
ance should  harmonize  with  the  intensity  of  his  feelings. 
And,  in  general,  the  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  other 
principles  of  time.  A  thorough  understanding  of  the 
functions  of  quantity,  pause,  rate,  and  rhythm  in  speech 
will  be  found  to  be  of  very  great  value  in  improving  the 
general  effectiveness  of  one's  expression. 


TIME  239 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  IN  TIME 

The  aim  of  practice  in  the  time  elements  should  be : 

1.  To  gain  a  feeling  for  the  quantity  values  of  speech. 

2.  To  become  proficient  in  the  use  of  pause. 

3.  To  be  able  to  employ  effectively  the  principles  of 
rate  and  rhythm. 

Exercise  I.  Read  the  following;  passages  with  careful 
discrimination  as  to  quantity  values  of  individual  sounds 
and  syllables.  Observe  the  mellow,  easy-flowing  sounds 
of  Tennyson's  lines  and  compare  them  with  the  harsh, 
abrupt  sounds  of  the  lines  from  Shakespeare.  Note  how 
exactly  suited  the  lines  are  in  each  case  to  the  poet's 
purpose. 

1.  Sweet  and  low,  sweet  and  low, 

Wind  of  the  western  sea, 
Low,  low,  breathe  and  blow, 

Wind  of  the  western  sea  ! 
Over  the  rolling  waters  go, 
Come  from  the  dying  moon,  and  blow. 

Blow  him  again  to  me ; 
While  my  little  one,  while  my  pretty  one,  sleeps. 

Tennyson 

2.  The  raging  rocks 
And  shivering  shocks 
Shall  break  the  locks 

Of  prison  gates ; 
And  Phibbus'  car 
Shall  shine  from  far 
And  make  and  mar 

The  foolish  Fates. 
Shakespeare,  "A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  I,  ii 


240  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Exercise  II.  Read  the  following  passages  with  definite 
attention  to  the  principles  of  pause  : 

1.  To  be,  or  not  to  be :  that  is  the  question : 
Whether  't  is  nobler  in  the  mind  to  suffer 
The  slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune, 
Or  to  take  arms  against  a  sea  of  troubles, 

And  by  opposing  end  them  ?    To  die :  to  sleep  ; 

No  more ;  and  by  a  sleep  to  say  we  end 

The  heart-ache  ayd  the  thousand  natural  shocks 

That  flesh  is  heir  to,  't  is  a  consummation 

Devoutly  to  be  wish'd.    To  die,  to  sleep ; 

To  sleep :  perchance  to  dream :  ay,  there  's  the  rub ; 

For  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreams  may  come 

When  we  have  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil. 

Must  give  us  pause. 

Shakespeare,  "  Hamlet,"  III,  i 

2.  A  fool,  a  fool !    I  met  a  fool  i'  the  forest, 
A  motley  fool ;  a  miserable  world ! 

As  I  do  live  by  food,  I  met  a  fool ; 

Who  laid  him  down  and  bask'd  him  in  the  sun, 

And  rail'd  on  Lady  Fortune  in  good  terms. 

In  good  set  terms  and  yet  a  motley  fool. 

"  Good  morrow,  fool,"  quoth  I.    "  No,  sir,"  quoth  he, 

"  Call  me  not  fool  till  heaven  hath  sent  me  fortune  "  : 

And  then  he  drew  a  dial  from  his  poke, 

And,  looking  on  it  with  lack-lustre  eye. 

Says  very  wisely,  "It  is  ten  o'clock : 

Thus  we  may  see,"  quoth  he,  "  how  the  world  wags : 

'T  is  but  an  hour  ago  since  it  was  nine. 

And  after  one  hour  more  't  will  be  eleven ; 

And  so,  from  hour  to  hour,  we  ripe  and  ripe, 

And  then,  from  hour  to  hour,  we  rot  and  rot ; 

And  thereby  hangs  a  tale." 

Shakespeare,  "As  You  Like  It,"  II,  vii 


TIME  241 

Exercise  III.  Discriminate  carefully  as  to  the  rate 
of  the  following  passages : 

I.  So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  which  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not  like  the  quarry-slave  at  night. 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon  ;  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.  —  Bryant 

2.  I  catch  another  vision.  The  crisis  of  battle  —  a  soldier 
struck,  staggering,  fallen.  I  see  a  slave  scuffling  through 
the  smoke,  winding  his  black  arms  about  the  fallen  form, 
reckless  of  the  hurtling  death,  bending  his  trusty  face  to 
catch  the  words  that  tremble  on  the  stricken  lips,  so 
wrestling  meantime  with  agony  that  he  would  lay  down 
his  life  in  his  master's  stead.  —  Henry  W.  Grady 

Exercise  IV.  Try  to  sense  fully  the  rhythmic  ele- 
ments of  the  following  passages,  the  first  illustrating  the 
rhythm  of  poetry,  the  second  the  rhythm  of  prose : 

The  rhythm  of  poetry 

I.  God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old  — 
Lord  of  our  far-flung  battle-line  — 

Beneath  Whose  awful  Hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine  — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget ! 

The  tumult  and  the  shouting  dies  — 
The  captains  and  the  kings  depart  — 


242  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Still  stands  Thine  ancient  Sacrifice, 
An  humble  and  a  contrite  heart. 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet. 
Lest  we  forget  —  lest  we  forget  1  —  Kipling 

2.  Boot,  saddle,  to  horse,  and  away  1 
Rescue  my  castle  before  the  hot  day 
Brightens  to  blue  from  its  silvery  gray. 
Boot,  saddle,  to  horse,  and  away ! 

Ride  past  the  suburbs,  asleep  as  you  'd  say ; 
Many  's  the  friend  there,  will  listen  and  pray 
"  God's  luck  to  gallants  that  strike  up  the  lay  — 
Boot,  saddle,  to  horse,  and  away !  "  —  Browning 


The  rhythm  of  prose 

I.  Women's  colleges  are  in  a  very  different  position  from 
men's  colleges.  Almost  all  large  fortunes  are  in  the  hands 
of  men,  and  very  few  men  realize  as  yet  the  necessity  of 
giving  girls  a  thorough  college  education.  Wealthy  men  are 
continually  giving  large  sums  to  men's  colleges.  Wealthy 
women  give  to  men's  education  in  memory  of  their  fathers, 
husbands,  or  sons  more  frequently  and  in  larger  amounts 
than  wealthy  men  give  to  women's  education.  Men's 
colleges  also  receive  large  gifts  from  their  alumni.  Unlike 
men's  colleges,  it  is  impossible  for  women's  colleges  to 
appeal  for  funds  to  their  wealthy  graduates.  Women,  espe- 
cially young  women,  have  not  the  disposal  of  much  money. 
They  are  not  engaged  in  business.  Each  dollar  raised  by 
a  college  for  women  represents  many  times  the  effort  of 
a  dollar  raised  by  a  college  for  men.  Women's  colleges 
are  one  and  all  inadequately  endowed.  —  Extract  from  an 
address  in  the  interest  of  Goucher  College  by  President 
M.  Cary  Thomas  of  Bryn  Mawr 


TIME  243 

ELOQUENCE 

2.  When  public  bodies  are  to  be  addressed  on  momentous 
occasions,  when  great  interests  are  at  stake  and  strong  pas- 
sions excited,  nothing  is  valuable  in  speech  further  than  it 
is  connected  with  high  intellectual  and  moral  endowments. 
Clearness,  force,  and  earnestness  are  the  qualities  that  pro- 
duce conviction.  True  eloquence,  indeed,  does  not  consist  in 
speech.  It  cannot  be  brought  from  far.  Labor  and  learning 
may  toil  for  it,  but  they  will  toil  in  vain.  Words  and  phrases 
may  be  marshaled  in  every  way,  but  they  cannot  compass  it. 
It  must  exist  in  the  man,  in  the  subject,  and  in  the  occasion. 

Affected  passion,  intense  expression,  the  pomp  of  declama- 
tion, all  may  aspire  to  it;  they  cannot  reach  it.  It  comes, 
if  it  come  at  all,  like  the  outbreaking  of  a  fountain  from 
the  earth,  or  the  bursting  forth  of  volcanic  fires,  with  spon- 
taneous, native,  original  force.  The  graces  taught  in  the 
schools,  the  costly  ornaments  and  studied  contrivances  of 
speech,  shock  and  disgust  men  when  their  own  lives,  and 
the  fate  of  their  wives,  their  children,  hang  on  the  decision 
of  the  hour.  Then  words  have  lost  their  power,  rhetoric  is 
vain,  and  all  elaborate  oratory  contemptible.  Even  genius 
itself  then  feels  rebuked  and  subdued,  as  in  the  presence 
of  higher  qualities. 

Then  patriotism  is  eloquent;  then  self-devotion  is  eloquent. 
The  clear  conception,  outrunning  deductions  of  logic,  the 
high  purpose,  the  firm  resolve,  the  dauntless  spirit,  speak- 
ing on  the  tongue,  beaming  from  the  eye,  informing  every 
feature,  and  urging  the  whole  man  onward,  —  this,  this  is 
eloquence ;  or  rather  it  is  something  greater  and  higher 
than  all  eloquence,  —  it  is  action,  noble,  sublime,  god-like 
action.  —  Webster 

Note.  The  literary  excerpts  used  as  illustrations  throughout  this 
chapter  will  be  found  of  much  value  for  reading  and  practice  along 
with  the  exercises  given  above. 


CHAPTER  X 
QUALITY 

Quality  in  speech  is  the  inherent  character  of  a  tone 
whereby  it  may  be  distinguished  from  all  other  tones.  If 
a  person  were  to  overhear  two  of  his  friends  speaking 
in  an  adjoining  room,  although  he  may  not  have  known 
previously  that  they  were  there,  he  would  have  no  trouble 
in  telling  who  the  speakers  were  merely  from  the  sound 
of  their  voices.  Or  if  he  were  to  attend  a  symphony 
concert  and  hear  many  instruments  playing  in  unison, 
he  would  experience  little  difficulty  in  distinguishing  the 
tones  of  the  violins  from  those  of  the  harps,  or  the  sound 
of  the  bass  viol  from  that  of  the  kettledrum.  Each 
instrument  has  a  characteristic  sound  of  its  own,  and 
this  characteristic  sound  is  known  as  its  quality. 

The  foundation  of  vocal  quality.  We  have  seen  how 
the  stream  of  breath  coming  from  the  lungs  passes 
between  the  vocal  cords  and  is  transformed  into  tone  in 
very  much  the  same  manner  as  the  stream  of  air  from 
the  bellows  of  the  pipe  organ  is  transformed  into  tone 
by  passing  between  the  reeds.  But  the  tones  of  the  pipe 
organ  do  not  get  their  .splendid  quality  so  much  from  the 
reeds  by  which  they  are  produced  as  from  the  long,  hollow 
pipes  through  which  they  pass.  These  pipes,  of  various 
lengths  and  diameters,  receive  the  tones  sent  forth  from 
the  reeds,  and  serve  as  resonators,  that  deflect  the  tone 

244 


QUALITY  245 

waves  and  cause  them  to  vibrate  throughout  their  entire 
length,  thus  producing  tones  of  great  richness  and  power. 
In  the  human  voice  the  quahty  is  dependent  to  some 
extent  upon  the  mechanism  of  the  voice  box,  where  the 
initial .  tone  is  produced ;  but,  as  in  the  pipe  organ,  it  is 
dependent  chiefly  upon  those  parts  which  serve  as  reso- 
nators, reenforcing  the  initial  tone  with  so-called  over- 
tones, which  give  the  voice  its  final  character  or  quality. 

Not  only  do  different  kinds  of  musical  instruments 
vary  greatly  in  quality,  as  in  the  case  of  the  resonance 
produced  by  the  sounding  board  of  the  piano  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  hollow  pipe  of  the  organ,  but  it  is  well 
known  that  instruments  of  the  same  class  possess  widely 
different  powers  of  resonance.  Some  violins  have  a  quality 
that  is  mellow  and  rich,  while  others  are  harsh  and  me- 
tallic, depending  upon  the  size,  shape,  material,  and  work- 
manship of  the  box  in  which  the  tones  are  reenforced.  In 
the  human  voice  the  conditions  are  exactly  comparable. 
It  is  the  cavities  of  the  head,  nose,  and  throat,  together 
with  the  trachea  and  bronchi,  that  serve  as  the  vocal 
resonators,  which  are  chiefly  responsible  for  the  charac- 
teristic quality  of  one's  speaking  voice. 

Vocal  quality  as  affected  by  disease.  Those  afflicted 
with  catarrh  or  throat  and  bronchial  trouble  rarely  ever 
have  a  clear  quality  of  voice.  Any  obstruction  or  rough- 
ness of  the  cavities  upon  which  the  voice  depends  for  its 
resonance  is  likely  to  result  in  unpleasant  tones  of  some 
kind.  So  we  hear  the  speaker  with  the  light,  piping 
voice,  due  often  to  undeveloped  or  contracted  resonance 
chambers ;  or  the  speaker  with  the  nasal  twang,  resulting 
from  a  stoppage  which  prevents  the  free  passage  of  the 


246  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

tone  through  the  cavities  of  the  head ;  and  speakers  with 
many  other  unpleasant  quaUties  due  chiefly  to  imperfect 
conditions  of  resonance.  Fortunate  is  he  who  is  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  naturally  clear  and  resonant  speaking  voice. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  enviable  possessions  of  the  public 
speaker,  and  is  dependent  upon  a  normal  and  healthy 
condition  of  all  the  parts  that  influence  the  quality  of 
the  speaker's  tone. 

In  case  the  quality  is  poor  because  of  malformation  of 
the  parts  or  as  a  result  of  disease,  medical  aid  may  be 
necessary.  But  if  it  is  due  merely  to  lax  habits  of  speech, 
—  to  a  lazy,  nasal  twang  perhaps,  because  that  requires 
less  effort  than  the  production  of  clear,  resonant  tones,  — 
then  the  remedy  should  be  vocal  exercises  and  proper 
direction  of  the  voice  in  reading  and  speaking. 

The  quality  of  the  speaking  voice  is  very  different 
under  conditions  of  robust  health  from  that  in  sickness 
and  disease.  This  may  be  observed  by  noting  the  quality 
of  one's  voice  during  a  severe  illness.  At  such  times  it 
is  likely  to  be  weak,  thin,  and  rather  hollow  and  piping ; 
while  the  same  voice  under  conditions  of  health  may  be 
rich  and  possessed  of  excellent  resonance. 

The  value  of  right  habits  of  living.  The  voice  is  also 
affected  by  irregular  habits  of  living.  One  whose  physical 
vigor  is  depleted  through  dissipation  is  not  likely  to  have  a 
good  voice.  Irregularity  of  diet  is  a  very  common  source 
of  vocal  weakness.  An  overcrowded  stomach  does  not 
generally  contribute  to  a  voice  of  strong  and  pleasing 
quality.  These  things,  together  with  a  person's  general 
outlook  upon  life,  influence  to  a  very  marked  degree  the 
character  of  the  voice.     The  speaker  who  would  make 


QUALITY  247 

his  voice  an  effective  instrument  will  not  neglect  the 
laws  of  health,  which  are  a  most  potent  influence  upon 
his  vocal  powers. 

A  great  actress  recently  made  the  remark  that  few 
people  realize  the  rigid  discipline  in  correct  diet,  proper 
bathing,  and  exercise  to  which  the  actor  must  subject 
himself  constantly  during  his  months  upon  the  road,  in 
order  to  keep  his  voice  in  trim  for  the  tremendous  strain 
that  is  placed  upon  it.  The  person  who  misuses  his 
body,  and  then  cannot  understand  why  his  voice  fails  to 
serve  him  as  it  should,  will  do  well  to  learn  a  lesson 
from  those  actors  and  public  speakers  who,  although  they 
are  obliged  to  subject  the  voice  constantly  to  tremendous 
strain,  are  wise  enough  in  its  use  and  care  to  guard 
against  unfortunate  consequences.  It  is  well  to  remember 
that  the  kind  of  voice  we  have  is  due  largely  to  what  we 
make  it,  and  that  our  voices  tend  to  mirror  the  kind  of 
lives  we  live. 

The  blind  are  said  to  possess  a  peculiar  power  of 
divining  character  merely  from  the  quality  of  voice. 
Fanny  Crosby,  the  blind  song  writer,  used  to  remark  of 
strangers  that  certain  persons  she  did  not  care  to  know, 
because  their  voices  bespoke  an  evil  character,  while  the 
voices  of  others,  equally  strange  to  her,  she  said  bespoke 
a  noble  character.  There  may  be  doubt  as  to  how  far 
the  voice  betrays  the  man,  but  no  one  will  question  that 
different  modes  of  life  develop  voices  that  are  crude 
or  refined,  harsh  or  mellow,  just  as  many  of  the  other 
physical  features  of  the  individual  are  affected  in  a 
similar  way.  The  actor  who  is  thoroughly  skilled  in 
his  art  portrays  a  given  character  no  less  by  the  quality 


248  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  voice  that  he  uses  than  by  the  costume  that  he  wears, 
the  poses  that  he  assumes,  or  any  of  the  accessories  that 
he  employs  in  carrying  out  his  purpose.  In  short,  quahty 
of  voice  is  a  factor  that  goes  a  very  long  way  to  make  or 
mar  the  final  effect  of  speech,  whether  it  be  employed 
upon  the  stage,  the  public  platform,  or  in  conversation. 

Vocal  quality  chiefly  an  emotional  element.  Quality 
is  the  most  distinctly  emotional-element  of  speech.  It 
is  affected  constantly  by  ever-varying  emotions.  Let  us 
suppose  that  a  man  is  sitting  by  his  fireside  discussing 
with  a  friend  some  matter-of-fact  occurrence  of  the  day. 
He  employs  in  his  conversation  just  his  natural  speaking 
tone,  or  quality.  Suddenly  someone  rushes  in  from  the 
street  and  tells  him  that  his  child  has  been  run  over  by 
an  automobile.  He  jumps  from  his  chair  and  rushes  out, 
crying,  "  O  my  God,  can  it  be  possible  that  my  child  is 
dead !  "  His  voice,  under  the  stress  of  the  shock  and 
the  emotions  struggling  within  him,  changes  to  a  quality 
entirely  different  from  that  which  it  had  as  he  sat  calmly 
discussing  the  events  of  the  day.  Perhaps  it  sounds  hoarse 
and  hollow,  the  breath  is  short  and  labored,  and  it  is 
with  difficulty  that  he  is  able  to  speak  at  all.  Now  if  we 
were  to  go  into  the  causes  of  this  change  and  analyze 
just  what  took  place,  we  should  find  that  the  sudden 
announcement  of  the  accident  stirred  him  with  most 
intense  emotion,  and  that  this,  acting  suddenly  upon 
the  vocal  muscles  and  resonance  chambers,  caused  them 
to  contract  and  so  change  their  shape,  size,  and  tension 
that  tones  of  an  entirely  different  quality  were  produced. 

Changes  not  unlike  this  are  taking  place  constantly 
in  speech.     The   muscles   that   have   to   do  with  voice 


QUALITY  249 

production,  like  many  of  the  other  muscles  and  organ- 
isms of  the  body,  are  directly  influenced  by  the  condi- 
tions of  mind  and  heart  of  the  speaker.  As  these 
conditions  change,  they  affect  the  muscles,  and  various 
qualities  of  voice  result. 

Influence  of  emotions  upon  the  bodily  organs.  Most 
of  us  are  familiar  with  the  experiments  in  psychology 
which  have  established  beyond  question  the  influence 
exerted  upon  the  various  organs  of  the  body  by  the 
emotions.  In  a  recent  discussion  of  the  voice  and  the 
emotions  we  read  these  statements : 

Under  the  influence  of  pleasurable  emotional  states  — 
joy,  love,  hope,  sense  of  well-being  —  the  digestion  is 
helped,  the  breathing  deepened,  the  circulation  improved. 
Pleasurable  emotion  brings  life;  the  nerve  cells  store  up 
energy;  the  whole  body  seems  to  expand;  all  the  vital 
functions  are  quickened;  eyes  brighten,  cheeks  redden, 
tense  muscles  become  relaxed,  wrinkled  brows  smooth ;  the 
voice  becomes  soft  and  more  pleasing.  Under  the  influence 
of  unpleasant  emotions  —  fear,  anger,  etc.,  —  the  energy  of 
the  body  is  used  up ;  digestion  is  halted ;  breathing  becomes 
irregular  and  usually  more  shallow ;  the  voice  changes.^ 

Thus  we  flnd  that  the  emotions  exert  an  influence 
upon  those  muscles  and  organisms  of  the  body  which 
are  involuntary  quite  as  much  as  upon  those  that  are 
voluntary.  We  know  how  continued  worry  and  anxiety 
over  troubles,  real  or  imaginary,  will  result  in  loss  of 
appetite  and  in  a  general  run-down  condition  of  the 
entire  body.    Often   it   develops   into  a  mood  which  in 

1  Dr.  Smiley  Blanton,  "  The  Voice  and  the  Emotions,"  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Public  Speakings  Vol.  I,  No.  2. 


250  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

time  dominates  a  person's  whole  outlook  upon  life.  The 
recluse,  who  continually  shuts  himself  away  from  his 
fellow  men,  is  usually  morose  and  sullen,  his  face 
drawn,  his  body  emaciated,  and  his  whole  temper  that 
of  the  pessimist  and  the  misanthrope ;  while  the  man 
who  looks  the  world  squarely  in  the  face,  who  sees  life 
as  it  is,  who  mingles  with  people  and  finds  pleasure 
and  satisfaction  in  his  work,  is  much  more  likely  to 
have  good  red  blood,  a  healthy  functioning  of  the  bodily 
organs,  and  a  real  purpose  in  life. 

This  principle  the  physician  understands  very  well  and 
uses  it  constantly  in  his  practice.  If  he  is  wise  he  does 
not  go  into  the  sick  room  with  gloomy,  foreboding  counte- 
nance. On  the  contrary,  he  tries  to  surround  his  patient 
with  an  atmosphere  of  sunshine  and  hope  ;  to  instill  in 
him  a  spirit  of  buoyancy  and  optimism.  His  words  are 
full  of  encouragement  and  reassurance,  and  by  mere 
mental  suggestion  he  is  often  able  to  implant  a  new 
spirit  of  hope  that  is  far  more  potent  than  medicine  in 
bringing  about  recovery. 

The  physiological  basis  of  vocal  quality.  In  regard  to 
the  influence  of  the  emotions  more  specifically  upon  the 
vocal  mechanism,  the  same  writer  goes  on  to  say  : 

The  action  of  the  vocal  apparatus  is  governed  by  the  con- 
dition of  the  muscles  of  the  body,  and  when  all  the  muscles 
are  tense  we  get  a  different  action  of  the  vocal  apparatus 
than  when  they  are  relaxed  .  .  . ;  unpleasant  emotions  cause 
a  tension  of  the  vocal  cords  and  also,  to  a  less  extent,  of  the 
muscles  surrounding  the  voice  box.  Even  slight  degrees  of 
the  emotions  cause  a  swelling  and  a  feeling  of  tension  in  the 
throat,  while  greater  degrees  of  the  same  feeling  will  cause 
a  real  "  lump  "  to  rise.    This  lump  is  due  to  the  contraction 


QUALITY  251 

of  the  muscles.  .  .  .  The  effect  of  the  unpleasant  emotions 
upon  the  resonators  is  brought  about  through  the  change  in 
the  tension  of  the  muscles  that  surround  the  resonating 
cavities.  Hard,  tense  muscles  cause  the  tone  to  become 
harsh  and  unpleasing.  Such  tones  occur  through  the 
influence  of  anger.  The  opposite  emotions  soften  and 
change  the  muscles  of  the  resonators  and  give  tones  that 
are  pleasing. 

Thus  from  an  observation  of  the  physiological  basis  of 
speech  quality  we  find  that,  while  every  individual  has 
what  may  be  called  his  own  characteristic  quality  of  voice, 
depending  upon  the  size,  shape,  and  condition  of  his 
vocal  mechanism,  there  are  ever-varying  emotions  from 
within  that  exert  a  direct  influence  upon  different  parts  of 
this  mechanism,  causing  the  quality  of  the  voice  to  change. 
This  constant  change  in  vocal  quality,  commonly  known 
as  "  tone  color,"  is  a  potent  influence  in  expression,  since 
it  tends  to  register  faithfully  the  various  states  of  emotion 
of  the  speaker. 

Rules  of  formal  elocution  not  to  be  relied  upon. 
Formal  elocution  has  made  definite  classifications  of  the 
varying  shades  of  color  of  the  voice  which  manifest  them- 
selves as  a  result  of  different  emotions,  and  we  find  voice 
quality  divided  into  such  classes  as  normal,  orotund, 
pectoral,  aspirate,  guttural,  oral,  nasal,  falsetto.  Nearly 
every  book  on  elocution  makes  a  classification  some- 
what of  this  kind  and  then  attempts  to  include  all  emo- 
tions under  these  heads.  For  instance,  the  aspirate,  a 
breathy,  whispered  quality,  is  said  to  include  such  emotions 
as  fear,  caution,  secrecy  ;  the  guttural,  a  harsh,  throaty 
quality,  the  emotions  of  anger,  hatred,  revenge ;  the  oro- 
tund, a  full,  resonant  quality,  the  emotions  of  grandeur, 


252  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

patriotism,  courage ;  the  pectoral,  a  deep,  hollow  tone,  the 
emotions  of  reverence,  awe,  dread.  So  the  various  emo- 
tions are  classified  arbitrarily  according  to  these  qualities, 
and  we  are  told  that  a  given  passage  from  literature  or  a 
given  sentiment  to  be  expressed  in  a  speech  should  have 
the  aspirate  quality  predominating,  and  something  else 
a  guttural,  pectoral,  or  falsetto  quality. 

Clearly  such  classifications  as  these  are  artificial,  inas- 
much as  they  leave  out  of  consideration  the  individuality  of 
the  speaker  and  tend  to  fix  the  attention  upon  the  kind  of 
voice  to  be  used  rather  than  upon  what  is  to  be  expressed. 
To  say  that  a  given  passage  from  Shakespeare  should  be 
spoken  by  all  actors  with  a  guttural  quality  of  voice,  and 
that  another  passage  should  be  interpreted  with  an  aspirate 
quality,  would  be  to  crush  individuality  and  render  expres- 
sion a  thing  inane  and  wooden  indeed.  What  one  actor 
might  render  true  to  sentiment  and  with  good  effect  by 
employing  a  guttural  quality  might  perhaps  be  given  by 
another  actor  with  equally  correct  interpretation  and  even 
greater  effectiveness  by  the  use  of  an  intense,  unvocalized 
aspirate. 

The  same  thing  exactly  is  true  of  the.  reader  and  the 
public  speaker.  The  fact  is  that  the  qualities  of  the  voice 
are  as  manifold  as  the  emotions  that  produce  them.  One 
writer  upon  the  subject  relates  the  following  incident : 

Some  think  that  men  have  only  a  few  emotions,  and 
divide  these  into  pleasure  and  pain,  love  and  hate,  and 
a  few  others.  The  best  answer  to  such  narrow-minded 
conceptions  of  the  varieties  of  human  feeling  is  a  study  of 
the  very  subject.  I  once  had  an  able  student  to  whom  I 
gave  the  problem  to  define  with  her  voice  twenty  different 


QUALITY  253 

emotions.  She  said  she  did  not  believe  there  were  so  many. 
I  told  her  to  try  it.  She  became  interested  and  brought  in 
as  many  as  twenty  varieties  of  love.  One  who  has  never 
studied  or  tried  to  develop  tone  color  is  hardly  aware,  as 
this  cultivated  lady  was  not,  of  the  great  varieties  of  human 
feeling.  Words  can  but  imperfectly  name  emotions.  It 
takes  the  color  of  the  voice  to  define  them.-^ 

Things  to  avoid.  So  we  see  that  to  set  down  certain 
definite  qualities  of  voice,  and  to  say  that  these  represent 
the  means  by  which  an  unlimited  number  of  emotions  are 
to  be  expressed,  is  not  only  misleading  but  dangerous  to 
the  learner.  It  is  likely  to  make  him  feel  that  if  every 
emotion  has  its  appropriate  quality,  he  must  learn  to  adjust 
the  quality  of  his  voice  to  the  emotion  to  be  expressed, 
largely  according  to  rule.  Thus,  in  a  more  or  less 
mechanical  fashion,  he  will  be  likely  to  crowd  his  voice 
down  into  his  throat  in  order  to  secure  a  guttural  quality 
for  one  sentiment,  constrict  the  muscles  that  produce  the 
resonance  necessary  for  another  quality,  and  so  on.  In  this 
way  his  attention  will  be  directed  to  just  the  thing  it 
should  not  be, — the  continued  mechanical  readjustments 
of  the  voice,  —  when  clearly  it  should  be  devoted  to  what 
he  desires  to  express. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  means  employed  by  some 
elocutionists  to  secure  desired  emotional  effects.  Instead 
of  cultivating  the  imagination  and  the  feeling,  and  allow- 
ing them  to  express  themselves  truly  through  the  voice, 
the  attention  is  given  to  such  vocal  adjustments  as  will 
secure  the  proper  effects.  Thus  the  speaker's  expression 
becomes  merely  a  series  of  tricks,  the  end  being  to  get 

^  Curry,  Mind  and  Voice,  p.  365. 


254  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

people  to  laugh  or  weep  according  to  rule.  Such  methods 
are  demoralizing  to  all  true  expression  of  emotion,  and 
should  not  be  countenanced  by  those  who  lay  claim  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  correct  use  of  the  voice.  The  important 
thing  in  the  use  of  vocal  quality  is  that  the  voice  of  the 
speaker  shall  reflect  genuinely  the  feelings  that  well  up 
for  expression  within  him,  rather  than  that  there  be  con- 
stantly an  effort  to  adjust  certain  qualities  of  the  voice  to 
given  emotions. 

The  true  function  of  vocal  quality.  As  we  have  seen, 
the  emotions  that  may  rise  in  the  human  breast  are  with- 
out number,  and  the  function  of  vocal  quality  is  to  ex- 
press these  emotions  by  ever-varying  shades  and  colors 
of  tone.  In  order  to  do  this  in  a  manner  that  possesses 
no  element  of  artificiality,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to 
the  emotions  themselves.  Just  as  correct  expression  by 
means  of  bodily  gesture  or  by  inflection  of  the  voice  is 
directly  dependent  upon  the  thought  that  prompts  it, 
so  correct  expression  through  tone  color  depends  directly 
upon  the  emotional  states  of  the  speaker.  Let  the  emo- 
tion be  strong  and  clearly  defined,  and  the  voice  will  be 
very  likely  to  change  its  color  to  harmonize  with  it.  A 
dull,  colorless  voice  is  usually  indicative  of  rather  shallow 
emotion  or  of  no  emotion  at  all,  just  as  a  voice  without 
inflection  or  pause  shows  loose  and  superficial  thinking. 

However,  there  are  sometimes  certain  inhibitions  which 
prevent  the  voice  from  reflecting  that  which  the  speaker 
has  apparently  a  very  earnest  desire  to  express.  A  strik- 
ing example  of  this  recently  came  to  my  attention.  A 
young  woman,  who  proved  herself  to  be  an  exceptionally 
able  student,  was  almost  entirely  incapable  of  expressing 


QUALITY  255 

through  her  voice  any  degree  of  feeUng.  The  voice 
seemed  cold  and  unresponsive,  and  although  the  mind 
did  its  part  and  there  was  unquestionably  a  very  earnest 
desire  to  express,  the  result  was  almost  stoical.  Upon  my 
inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  this  condition,  the  young  woman 
related  how  from  her  earliest  remembrance  she  had  been 
taught  to  repress  every  show  of  emotion.  As  a  child  she 
was  severely  punished  whenever  she  attempted  to  cry, 
and  throughout  her  life  this  process  of  repression  had 
continued  until  it  had  resulted  in  practically  complete 
inhibition.  Cases  of  this  kind  not  infrequently  require 
much  skill  and  patience  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  and 
are  sometimes  unfortunately  mistaken  for  mere  stupidity. 
They  are,  however,  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule, 
the  voice  of  the  average  person  responding  readily 
through  vocal  color  whenever  there  is  definite  awakening 
of  thought  and  feeling. 

The  problem,  then,  of  voice  quality,  as  a  means  of 
effective  expression,  resolves  itself  into  one  of  feeling  the 
proper  emotional  stimulus  for  every  change  in  color  of 
tone.  Just  as  any  gesture  that  is  made  deliberately,  with 
no  impulse  promoting  it,  is  recognized  as  a  false  mode 
of  expression,  so  any  adjustment  of  the  voice  whereby  it 
changes  color  mechanically,  instead  of  in  response  to 
what  one  feels  genuinely,  is  likewise  false. 

Why  voices  lack  vocal  color.  If  we  get  down  to  the 
very  root  of  the  matter,  we  shall  find  that  the  reason  why 
so  many  read  and  speak  with  almost  no  change  of  color 
in  the  voice  is  the  fact  that  their  emotions  are  very 
shallow.  They  do  not  more  than  half  feel  what  they 
are  saying,  and  often  they  do  not  feel  at  all. 


256  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

There  could  be  no  better  illustration  of  this  than 
the  way  in  which  many  people  read  the  Bible.  Whether 
it  be  the  interpretation  of  the  profound  philosophy  of 
St.  Paul,  in  which  the  apostle  enters  into  the  discussion 
of  some  very  intricate  theological  question,  or  a  joyous 
lyric,  expressive  of  a  feeling  of  great  ecstasy,  such  as 
niany  of  the  Psalms,  we  are  accustomed  to  hear  both 
types  of  literature  read  with  identical  emotional  values. 
The  misconception  seems  to  be  that  all  Scripture  should 
be  read  with  a  tone  of  such  color  as  will  be  expressive 
of  its  sacredness.  To  give  such  expression  to  all  passages 
of  Scripture  is  to  misinterpret  entirely  the  nature  of  the 
literature  of  which  the  Bible  is  made  up. 

Readers  will  do  well  to  remember  that  the  Bible  is  not 
a  book  from  the  pen  of  a  single  writer  of  a  certain  age, 
but  that  it  is  a  great  storehouse  of  literature,  gleaned 
from  many  sources  through  many  different  generations 
and  ages,  and  that  it  consists  of  writings  of  almost  every 
character  and  description.  It  has  both  poetry  and  prose ; 
it  has  discourse  presented  in  epic,  lyric,  and  dramatic 
form ;  it  is  made  up  of  history,  biography,  chronology, 
romance,  and  parable ;  and  for  one  to  attempt  to  read  it 
in  all  its  manifold  forms  with  a  single  prevailing  color 
of  the  voice  is  to  misinterpret  both  its  content  and  its 
purpose.  Readers  should  not  forget  that  some  passages 
of  Scripture  are  lyrics  of  joy,  while  others  are  paeans  of 
grief,  and  that  the  voice  by  means  of  colors  of  tone  as 
divergent  as  somber  gray  and  flaming  scarlet  should  be 
able  to  express  these  widely  different  emotional  values. 

What  is  true  of  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible  is  true 
of  the  interpretation  of  all  other  literature  and  also  of  the 


QUALITY  257 

expression  of  one's  own  thought.  There  can  be  no  true 
expression  by  means  of  voice  quaHty  if  there  is  not  back 
of  it  a  clear  mental  concept  and  a  genuine  appreciation 
of  what  is  to  be  expressed.  The  person  who  reads  the 
lamentations  of  Job  and  the  Songs  of  Solomon  in  an 
identical  tone  of  voice,  with  no  show  of  change  in  vocal 
color,  certainly  has  very  little  appreciation  of  what  he  is 
reading.  Likewise  the  speaker  whose  voice  manifests  no 
variations  of  quality  in  the  expression  of  his  own  ideas 
is  not  likely  to  be  doing  either  very  clear  or  very  intense 
thinking.  What  is  needed  is  a  thorough  awakening  both 
mentally  and  emotionally.  Until  this  happens  we  may 
be  sure  that  the  voice  will  remain  more  or  less  dull  and 
colorless,  no  matter  how  many  mechanical  devices  are  em- 
ployed to  effect  a  change.  It  is  to  what  is  taking  place 
within  that  the  attention  must  be  directed  first  of  all. 

Vocal  color  best  cultivated  by  emotional  responses.  A 
great  deal  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  developing  fullness 
and  richness  of  tone  by  means  of  technical  exercises, 
such  as  the  use  of  easy-flowing  sounds  practiced  both  as 
notes  of  speech  and  as  notes  of  song.  These  are  of  much 
value  in  developing  general  vocal  resonance.  But  for  the 
cultivation  of  vocal  quality  more  particularly,  attention 
should  be  given  to  the  voice  as  it  changes  in  response  to 
different  emotional  states  of  the  speaker. 

As  in  the  instance  of  the  father  who  was  stirred  by 
great  and  sudden  emotion  upon  hearing  of  the  accident 
that  had  befallen  his  child,  we  find  that  the  manifestation 
of  feeling  by  a  sudden  change  in  the  quality  of  the  voice 
is  largely  involuntary.  Therefore,  given  an  intense  emo- 
tion, we  may  reasonably  expect  the  voice  to  reflect  that 


258  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

emotion  faithfully,  unless  there  is  some  abnormal  condi- 
tion to  prevent  it.  The  important  thing,  then,  is  to  arouse 
the  person  within.  Once  get  him  to  thinking  clearly 
and  feehng  intensely  and  there  is  sure  to  be  a  genuine 
response  of  some  kind  in  vocal  quality.  Then  by  his 
indulging  in  repeated  responses  of  this  kind,  the  emotions 
will  grow  and  manifest  themselves  through  the  voice  in  a 
manner  that  is  often  a  surprise  to  the  speaker  himself. 

Since  expression  through  voice  quality  is  the  most 
natural  means  of  manifesting  emotion,  it  should  be  cul- 
tivated with  the  view  to  making  it  spontaneous  and  in- 
voluntary. Persons  whose  voices  are  ordinarily  dull  and 
colorless  readily  acquire  the  power  of  expression  by 
means  of  vocal  color  when  once  the  emotions  have  been 
awakened  and  the  speaker  indulges  repeatedly  in  the 
responses  resulting  from  them. 

Cultivating  vocal  color  through  imagination.  First  of 
all  one  should  endeavor  to  experience  some  very  definite 
emotion  that  will  affect  the  vocal  conditions  to  a  marked 
degree.  This  can  be  done  by  imagining  a  situation  that 
is  very  personal  and  vital. 

Let  us  suppose  that  you  have  a  dear  friend.  For  years 
a  friendship  has  existed  between  you  that  has  been  close 
and  intimate,  and  one  that  you  have  prized  above  almost 
everything  else.  All  at  once  that  friend  treats  you  with 
shocking  rudeness  and  refuses  longer  even  to  recognize 
you.  You  make  many  attempts  to  effect  a  reconciliation, 
which  only  result  in  making  your  relations  more  strained 
and  embarrassing.  Finally,  after  repeated  attempts  of  this 
kind  you  realize  that  a  reconciliation  can  never  be  brought 
about,  since  the  mind  of  your  friend  has  been  poisoned 


QUALITY  259 

permanently  against  you  by  certain  persons  who  have 
deUberately  planned  to  do  you  injury. 

Now  bring  this  circumstance  home  by  imagining  it  as 
having  actually  occurred  in  the  case  of  your  very  best 
friend.  Think  of  all  that  friendship  has  meant  to  you 
in  the  past  and  what  it  now  means  to  have  it  broken. 
Try  to  feel  very  strongly  in  regard  to  it.  Give  yourself 
to  the  emotion  as  it  comes  and  as  it  continues  to  grow. 
Then  let  your  emotion  begin  to  find  expression  in  words. 
Perhaps  you  will  express  yourself,  with  a  great  deal  of 
feeling,  something  after  the  following  manner :  ''  That 
friendship,  which  has  meant  everything  in  the  world  to 
me,  has  been  broken  and  can  never  be  renewed."  Ob- 
serve the  quality  of  your  voice  as  you  express  this.  Note 
carefully  how  it  changes  color  in  response  to  the  emotion. 
Repeat  your  words  again  and  again,  intensifying  the  emo- 
tion and  heightening  the  vocal  color.  Then  express  your- 
self in  different  ways,  changing  your  language  as  the 
feeUng  becomes  more  intense.  Continue  thinking,  feel- 
ing, and  expressing  in  this  way  until  the  vocal  responses 
become  very  marked  and  spontaneous.  By  continued  prac- 
tice of  this  kind  one  will  soon  find  the  voice  becoming 
more  and  more  responsive,  until  at  length  it  will  reflect 
to  the  minutest  shade  and  color  the  emotions  that  prompt 
from  within. 

Cultivating  vocal  color  through  expressive  literature. 
Another  valuable  means  of  developing  expression  through 
vocal  quality  is  by  the  use  of  colorful  passages  of  litera- 
ture. Here  again  it  is  necessary  to  experience  strong 
emotions  through  the  exercise  of  the  imagination,  but  in 
a  somewhat  different  way  from  that  followed  in  the  former 


26o  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

instance.  There  you  were  experiencing  imaginatively  what 
might  easily  take  place  in  your  relations  with  your  best 
friend ;  here  you  are  to  put  yourself  in  the  place  of  some 
character  of  literature,  and  experience  in  imagination  what 
must  have  been  that  individual's  emotions  under  certain 
circumstances. 

Suppose  you  take  some  very  familiar  incident  in  litera- 
ture, such  as  the  Famine  in  ''  Hiawatha."  First  make  a 
careful  study  of  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  this 
incident.  Learn  how  the  Indians  of  the  tribe  to  which 
Hiawatha  belonged  were  suffering  from  an  unusually 
severe  winter ;  how  they  were  unable  to  get  game  of 
any  kind  for  food ;  and  how  along  with  the  cold  and  the 
famine  came  the  terrible,  blasting  fever.  Think  intently 
upon  the  suffering  this  must  have  entailed.  Try  to  recre- 
ate in  imagination  this  situation  and  to  experience  emo- 
tionally something  of  what  Hiawatha  must  have  felt  when, 
after  making  one  final  and  desperate  attempt  to  get  food 
for  Minnehaha,  he  returns  at  nightfall  unsuccessful  and 
finds  her  dead.  Read  for  the  cultivation  of  emotional 
responses  through  voice  quality  the  following  passages 
from  the  poem  : 

Oh  the  long  and  dreary  Winter ! 
Oh  the  cold  and  cruel  Winter  1 
Ever  thicker,  thicker,  thicker 
Froze  the  ice  on  lake  and  river, 
Ever  deeper,  deeper,  deeper 
Fell  the  snow  o'er  all  the  landscape. 
Fell  the  covering  snow,  and  drifted 
Through  the  forest,  round  the  village. 

Hardly  from  his  buried  wigwam 
Could  the  hunter  force  a  passage ; 


QUALITY  261 

With  his  mittens  and  his  snow-shoes 
Vainly  walked  he  through  the  forest, 
Sought  for  bird  or  beast  and  found  none, 
Saw  no  track  of  deer  or  rabbit, 
In  the  snow  beheld  no  footprints. 
In  the  ghastly,  gleaming  forest 
Fell,  and  could  not  rise  from  weakness, 
Perished  there  from  cold  and  hunger. 

Oh  the  famine  and  the  fever ! 
Oh  the  wasting  of  the  famine  ! 
Oh  the  blasting  of  the  fever ! 
Oh  the  wailing  of  the  children  ! 
Oh  the  anguish  of  the  women ! 

All  the  earth  was  sick  and  famished ; 
Hungry  was  the  air  around  them. 
Hungry  was  the  sky  above  them, 
And  the  hungry  stars  in  heaven 
Like  the  eyes  of  wolves  glared  at  them  1 

"  Gitche  Manito,  the  Mighty  1." 
Cried  he  with  his  face  uplifted 
In  that  bitter  hour  of  anguish, 
"  Give  your  children  food,  O  father ! 
Give  us  food,  or  we  must  perish ! 
Give  me  food  for  Minnehaha, 
For  my  dying  Minnehaha  !  " 

Homeward  hurried  Hiawatha, 
Empty-handed,  heavy-hearted. 
Heard  Nokomis  moaning,  wailing : 
"  Wahonowin  !    Wahonowin  ! 
Would  that  I  had  perished  for  you. 
Would  that  I  were  dead  as  you  are ! 
Wahonowin  !    Wahonowin  !  " 
And  he  rushed  into  the  wigwam, 


262  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Saw  the  old  Nokomis  slowly 
Rocking  to  and  fro  and  moaning, 
Saw  his  lovely  Minnehaha 
Lying  dead  and  cold  before  him. 

"  Farewell !  "  said  he,  "  Minnehaha  1 
Farewell,  O  my  Laughing  Water  I 
All  my  heart  is  buried  with  you. 
All  my  thoughts  go  onward  with  you ! 
Come  not  back  again  to  labor. 
Come  not  back  again  to  suffer, 
Where  the  Famine  and  the  Fever 
Wear  the  heart  and  waste  the  body. 
Soon  my  task  will  be  completed, 
Soon  your  footsteps  I  shall  follow 
To  the  Islands  of  the  Blessed, 
To  the  Kingdom  of  Ponemah, 
To  the  Land  of  the  Hereafter  I " 

Cultivating  vocal  color  through  extempore  speaking.  A 

third  means  of  cultivating  vocal  quality  is  by  employing 
not  imaginary  situations,  as  in  the  former  instances,  but 
real  ones.  Take  some  problem  for  discussion  that  is 
very  vital  to  you,  something  that  comes  directly  within 
your  own  experience.  Perhaps  it  is  an  injustice  that  you 
yourself  have  suffered  or  a  wrong  done  to  others  that 
you  feel  very  keenly ;  something  that  seems  to  you  to 
demand  definite  and  immediate  action.  Speak  for  ten 
minutes  extempore  upon  this  theme,  allowing  your  feel- 
ings to  have  full  sway.  Make  the  most  burning  appeal 
of  which  you  are  capable  for  a  change  of  conditions. 
Let  your  emotion  color  your  voice  as  it  will,  until  the 


QUALITY  ^  263 

vocal  response  is  such  that  every  shade  of  feehng  which 
you  are  experiencing  is  made  manifest  in  the  quaUty  of 
your  voice.  This  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  exercises 
that  the  public  speaker  can  use  for  the  cultivation  of 
expression  through  quality,  and  is  particularly  beneficial 
after  a  certain  degree  of  freedom  and  responsiveness  has 
been  gained  by  the  practice  of  the  imaginary  situations 
that  we  have  suggested. 

EXERCISES  FOR  FURTHER  CULTIVATION  OF 
VOCAL  QUALITY 

Exercise  I.  Imagine  the  full  import  of  the  different 
situations  suggested  by  the  following  lines.  Enter  fully 
into  the  emotion  arising  from  each  situation  and  express 
it  vocally  many  times.  Observe  the  very  marked  changes 
that  occur  in  the  quality  of  the  voice  as  each  new  emotion 
is  experienced. 

1.  My  brother  came  home  discouraged. 

2.  My  brother  came  home  honored. 

3.  My  brother  came  home  dishonored. 

4.  My  brother  came  home  angry. 

5.  My  brother  came  home  sick. 

6.  My  brother  came  home  drunk. 

Exercise  II.  Make  a  careful  study  of  the  different 
situations  presented  by  each  of  the  following  passages. 
Enter  into  them  sympathetically  and  note  the  contrasts 
between  the  emotions  contained  in  each.  Observe  care- 
fully the  changes  in  quality  that  take  place  as  the  voice 
responds  to  the  different  emotions.  Consider  the  fact 
that  the  first  is  indicative  of  very  pleasurable  emotion, 


264  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

while  the  second  is  the  outpouring  of  the  pent-up  bitter- 
ness that  Shylock  feels  over  injustice  to  his  race. 

1.  While  the  heart  beats  young  1  O  the  splendor  of  the  spring, 
With  all  her  dewy  jewels  on,  is  not  so  fair  a  thing ! 

The  fairest,  rarest  morning  of  the  blossom  time  of  May 

Is  not  so  sweet  a  season  as  the  season  of  to-day, 

As  the  youth's  diviner  climate  folds  and  holds  us,  close 

caressed. 
As  we  feel  our  mothers  with  us  by  the  touch  of  face  and 

breast ; 
Our  bare  feet  in  the  meadows  and  our  fancies  up  among 
The   airy  clouds  of   morning  —  while    the   heart   beats 

young. — James  Whitcomb  Riley 

2.  Shylock.    Signior  Antonio,  many  a  time  and  oft 
In  the  Rialto  you  have  rated  me 

About  my  moneys  and  my  usances  : 
Still  have  I  borne  it  with  a  patient  shrug, 
For  sufferance  is  the  badge  of  all  our  tribe. 
You  call  me  misbeliever,  cut-throat  dog, 
And  spit  upon  my  Jewish  gaberdine, 
And  all  for  use  of  that  which  is  mine  own. 
Well  then,  it  now  appears  you  need  my  help : 
Go  to,  then ;  you  come  to  me,  and  you  say 
"  Shylock,  we  would  have  moneys  "  :  you  say  so ; 
You,  that  did  void  your  rheum  upon  my  beard 
And  foot  me  as  you  spurn  a  stranger  cur 
Over  your  threshold  :  moneys  is  your  suit. 
What  should  I  say  to  you  ?  Should  I  not  say 
"  Hath  a  dog  money  ?  is  it  possible 
A  cur  can  lend  three  thousand  ducats  ?  "  Or 
Shall  I  bend  low  and  in  a  bondman's  key. 
With  bated  breath  and  whispering  humbleness, 
Say  this ; 


QUALITY  265 

"  Fair  sir,  you  spit  on  me  on  Wednesday  last ; 
You  spurn 'd  me  such  a  day ;  another  time 
You  call'd  me  dog ;  and  for  these  courtesies 
I  '11  lend  you  thus  much  moneys  "  ? 

Shakespeare,  "  Merchant  of  Venice,  I,  iii 

Compare  with  these  two  passages  the  words  of 
Enoch  Arden  when,  on  his  return  from  his  long  exile, 
he  finds  his  wife  married  to  Philip  Ray.  Try  to  inter- 
pret the  emotion  that  he  feels  when  he  says : 

"  Too  hard  to  bear !  why  did  they  take  me  thence  ? 
O  God  Almighty,  blessed  Saviour,  Thou  ^ 

That  didst  uphold  me  on  my  lonely  isle, 
Uphold  me,  Father,  in  my  loneliness 
A  little  longer  1  aid  me,  give  me  strength 
Not  to  tell  her,  never  to  let  her  know." 

All  down  the  long  and  narrow  street  he  went 
Beating  it  in  upon  his  weary  brain. 
As  tho'  it  were  the  burthen  of  a  song, 
"  Not  to  tell  her,  never  to  let  her  know." 

Exercise  III.  The  following  speech  by  Robert  G. 
Ingersoll  is  an  exquisite  piece  of  word  painting  that  will 
be  found  to  be  a  most  valuable  exercise  for  the  cultivation 
of  tone  color.  It  should  be  read  with  a  keen  appreciation 
of  the  author's  remarkable  sense  for  sound  and  color. 

Music  THE  Noblest  of  the  Arts 

It  is  probable  that  I  was  selected  to  speak  about  music 
because,  not  knowing  one  note  from  another,  I  have  no 
prejudices  on  the  subject.  Knowing  nothing  of  the  science 
of  music,  I  am  not  always  looking  for  defects,  or  listening 
for  discords.  As  the  young  robin  cheerfully  swallows 
whatever  comes,  I  hear  with  gladness  all  that  is  played. 


266  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Language  is  not  subtle  enough,  tender  enough,  to  express 
all  that  we  feel ;  and  when  language  fails  the  highest  and 
noblest  longings  are  translated  into  music.  Music  is  the 
sunshine  —  the  climate  of  the  soul,  and  it  floods  the  heart 
with  a  perfect  June. 

When  I  read  Shakespeare  I  am  astonished  that  he  has 
expressed  so  much  with  common  words ;  so  when  I  hear 
Wagner  I  exclaim.  Is  it  possible  that  all  this  is  done  with 
common  air !  In  Wagner's  music  there  is  a  touch  of  chaos 
that  suggests  the  infinite.  The  melodies  seem  strange  and 
changing  forms  like  summer  clouds,  and  weird  harmonies 
come  like  sounds  from  the  sea  brought  by  fitful  winds,  and 
others  moan  like  waves  on  desolate  shores,  and  mingled 
with  these  are  shouts  of  joy,  with  sighs  and  sobs,  and  ripples 
of  laughter,  and  the  wondrous  voice  of  eternal  love.  When 
I  listen  to  the  music  of  Wagner  I  see  pictures,  forms, 
glimpses  of  the  perfect,  the  swell  of  the  hip,  the  wave  of 
the  breast,  the  glance  of  the  eye.  I  am  in  the  midst  of 
great  galleries.  Before  me  are  passing  endless  panoramas. 
I  see  vast  landscapes  with  valleys  of  verdure  and  vine,  with 
soaring  crags,  snow-crowned.  I  am  on  the  wide  seas  where 
countless  billows  burst  into  white  caps  of  joy.  I  am  in  the 
midst  of  caverns  roofed  with  mighty  crags,  while  through 
some  rent  I  see  the  eternal  stars.  In  a  moment  the  music 
becomes  a  river  of  melody,  flowing  through  some  wondrous 
land ;  suddenly  it  falls  in  strange  chasms  and  the  mighty 
cataract  is  changed  to  seven-hued  foam. 

Great  music  is  always  sad  because  it  tells  one  of  the 
perfect,  and  such  is  the  difference  between  what  we  are 
and  that  which  the  music  suggests,  that  even  in  the  voice 
of  joy  we  find  some  tears. 

The  music  of  Wagner  has  color,  and  when  I  hear  the 
violins  the  morning  seems  to  slowly  come.  A  horn  puts  a 
star  above  the  horizon,  the  night  in  the  purple  hum  of  the 
bass  wanders  away  like  some  enormous  bee  across  wide 


QUALITY  267 

fields  of  dead  clover.  The  light  grows  whiter  as  the  violins 
increase,  colors  come  from  other  instruments  and  then  the 
full  orchestra  floods  the  world  with  day. 

Wagner  seems  not  only  to  have  given  us  new  tones,  new 
combinations,  but  the  moment  the  orchestra  begins  to  play 
his  music,  all  the  instruments  are  transfigured.  They  seem 
to  utter  the  sounds  that  they  have  been  longing  to  utter. 
The  horns  run  riot;  the  drums  and  cymbals  join  in  the 
general  joy ;  the  old  bass  viols  are  alive  with  passion ;  the 
cellos  throb  with  love ;  the  violins  are  seized  with  divine 
fury  and  the  notes  rush  out  as  eager  for  the  air  as  pardoned 
prisoners  for  the  roads  and  fields. 

The  music  of  Wagner  is  filled  with  landscapes.  There 
are  some  strains  like  midnight  thick  with  constellations. 
There  are  harmonies  like  islands  in  the  far  sea,  and  others 
like  palms  on  the  desert's  edge.  His  music  satisfies  the 
heart  and  brain.  Wagner  was  a  sculptor,  a  painter  in  sound. 
When  he  died  the  greatest  fountain  of  melody  that  ever 
enchanted  the  world  ceased.  His  music  will  refine  and 
instruct  forever. 


CHAPTER  XI 
FORCE 

Force  is  the  power  exerted  by  the  voice  in  rendering 
speech  dynamic  and  persuasive.  In  considering  the  first 
three  vocal  elements,  pitch,  time,  and  quality,  we  found 
that  by  means  of  different  changes  in  pitch  and  by  varia- 
tions in  the  time  elements  of  speech  clearness  of  thought 
is  secured  and  the  relative  importance  of  different  ideas 
emphasized,  and  that  by  means  of  quality  various  kinds 
and  degrees  of  emotion  are  expressed.  Usually  by  means 
of  these  three  elements,  which  serve  to  make  clear  the 
thought,  express  the  emotion,  and  give  weight  where  it  is 
needed,  the  expression  is  rendered  sufficiently  effective,  so 
that  little  or  no  attention  needs  to  be  given  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  force.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  found  necessary 
to  energize  one's  speech  in  a  way  that  is  not  usually 
accomplished  by  any  of  these  three  means. 

Speakers  who  have  had  a  great  deal  of  experience  in 
speaking  before  small  groups  of  people  sometimes  find 
themselves  utterly  helpless  if  called  of  a  sudden  to  address 
an  audience  in  a  large  auditorium.  The  conditions  are 
so  entirely  different  in  a  building  with  a  seating  capacity 
of  three  or  four  thousand  from  those  in  buildings  that 
will  accommodate  two  or  three  hundred,  that  the  speaker 
is  usually  quite  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  adapt  himself 
to  the  new  conditions.    A  knowledge  of  the  problems 

268 


FORCE  269 

involved  in  the  principle  of  force  will  aid  him  much  in 
this  perplexity  and  in  similar  difBculties  that  sooner  or 
later  he  will  be  sure  to  meet. 

Conditions  for  speaking  should  be  carefully  considered. 
The  first  consideration  of  force  is  that  of  the  size,  shape, 
and  general  character  of  the  room  in  which  one  is  to 
speak.  Many  speakers  seem  to  be  unaware  that  there 
are  differences  in  auditoriums,  and  this,  no  doubt,  accounts 
for  the  failure  of  many  speeches  that  might  have  been 
good  had  the  conditions  for  them  been  right.  The  matter 
of  the  size  of  the  room  is  generally  of  utmost  importance 
to  the  success  of  a  speech.  The  amount  of  force  that 
would  properly  be  applied  to  the  voice  for  a  talk  in  a 
drawing-room  would  be  quite  inadequate  if  used  in  an 
auditorium  with  a  capacity  of  several  thousand  persons.  In 
the  case  of  the  parlor  talk  no  attention  whatever  would 
need  to  be  given  to  force  of  voice.  In  the  large  audi- 
torium this  would  be  a  very  important  consideration. 

Clergymen  who  are  accustomed  to  speak  in  large 
churches,  where  the  acoustics  are  not  always  the  best 
and  where  there  are  sometimes  many  vacant  pews,  soon 
learn  the  importance  of  this  principle.  By  employing 
sufficient  force  to  make  the  voice  carry  to  all  parts  of 
the  room,  they  are  able  to  employ  an  easy,  conversational 
tone  that  sounds  to  those  in  the  pews  no  louder  than 
the  voice  in  ordinary  conversation,  while  in  reality  a  con- 
siderably greater  amount  of  force  is  being  used.  This, 
of  course,  is  the  ideal  adaptation  of  the  voice  to  an  audi- 
torium, and  one  that  should  be  sought  by  every  speaker. 

Not  infrequently  speakers  who  are  accustomed  to  ad- 
dress large  audiences  acquire  the  habit  of  employing  so 


270  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

much  volume  of  tone  that  their  everyday  conversation 
sounds  sonorous  and  unnatural.  When  they  speak  in  a 
small  room  their  voices  seem  almost  to  strike  one  in 
the  face.  This  shows  a  lack  of  appreciation  on  the  part 
of  the  speaker  of  the  very  important  fact  that  every 
room  requires  a  special  adjustment  of  the  voice ;  other- 
wise the  speech  seems  inapt  and  unsuited  to  the  occa- 
sion, no  matter  if  all  the  other  elements  of  expression  are 
properly  employed. 

Factors  determining  acoustic  conditions.  There  are 
many  other  things  besides  the  size  of  the  room  that  have 
to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  this  matter  of  adapta- 
tion. The  shape,  the  character  of  the  walls  and  ceilings, 
the  draperies,  and  the  kind  of  seats  are  even  more  im- 
portant than  the  size  in  determining  acoustic  conditions. 
Buildings  that  are  constructed  with  high  ceilings,  that 
have  many  angles,  nooks,  and  corners  where  the  voice 
may  be  caught  and  deflected,  usually  have  a  bad  echo 
and  are  poorly  suited  to  purposes  of  public  speaking. 
Churches  were  formerly  constructed  after  this  manner, 
with  many  arches,  cross  sections,  and  projections  from 
the  roof  that  interfered  considerably  with  the  sound  waves. 
Similarly,  balconies  supported  by  pillars  and  extending 
around  three  sides  of  the  auditorium  are  usually  open  to 
the  same  objection,  unless  they  are  especially  constructed 
with  reference  to  the  acoustics  of  the  building.  The 
voice  being  caught  under  such  wide  projections  loses 
much  of  its  power,  and  the  speaker  often  experiences 
the  sensation  of  not  being  able  to  tell  what  his  voice 
is  doing.  He  has  the  feeling  that,  although  the  voice  is 
sent  out  in  the  proper  manner,  he  has  no  assurance  of 


FORCE  271 

where  or  how  it  is  "  going  to  hit,"  and  it  becomes  for 
him  more  or  less  a  game  of  chance. 

The  tendency  in  modem  architecture  seems  to  be  to 
eUminate,  as  far  as  possible,  all  complicated  structure 
that  is  likely  to  interfere  with  the  sound  waves  of  the 
voice  and  to  sacrifice,  wherever  necessary,  decorative  art 
to  proper  acoustics.  So,  instead  of  the  elaborate  and 
sometimes  overornate  interiors  with  the  angles  and  deco- 
rative projections  of  former  days,  we  now  see  more  plain 
walls  and  concave  ceilings. 

Sometimes,  however,  plain  walls  do  not  give  the  desired 
acoustic  conditions.  Much  depends  upon  the  general  pro- 
portions of  the  building.  A  type  of  building  that  is  usu- 
ally very  difficult  to  speak  in  is  the  typical  country  opera 
house,  a  very  long,  narrow  structure  with  low  ceilings  and 
a  stage  built  high  above  the  audience.  In  such  buildings, 
where  the  length  is  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  width 
and  height,  the  acoustics  are  invariably  poor.  The  speaker 
who  understands  how  to  employ  the  proper  amount  of  force 
to  make  his  voice  reach  the  people  in  the  back  rows  is 
most  likely  to  be  successful  in  a  building  of  this  kind. 

Many  other  considerations  also  enter  in,  affecting 
general  acoustic  conditions.  Bare  walls,  floors,  and  seats 
are  likely  to  produce  echo.  In  theaters  and  other  large 
public  auditoriums  this  is  sometimes  avoided  by  placing 
draperies  about  the  walls,  cushioning  the  seats,  and  cover- 
ing the  floors  with  heavy  carpets.  In  some  auditoriums 
it  has  been  found  necessary  to  remove  the  plastering  from 
the  walls  and  ceilings  and  to  substitute  felt  coverings,  in 
order  to  make  them  at  all  suitable  for  speaking  purposes. 
The  mere  matter  of  the  room's  being  filled  with  people 


2/2  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

is  also  of  much  importance.  It  is  usually  more  difficult 
to  speak  in  a  room  only  half-filled  with  people  than  in 
one  in  which  every  seat  is  occupied,  the  bodies  of  the 
audience  preventing  echo  in  the  same  way  as  many  of 
the  devices  that  are  employed  expressly  for  that  purpose. 

Skilled  architects,  by  taking  into  consideration  all  the 
factors  that  go  to  make  up  proper  speaking  conditions, 
have  been  able  to  construct  buildings  in  which  the  acous- 
tics are  practically  perfect.  An  example  of  very  perfect 
architecture  of  this  kind  is  the  Hill  Auditorium,  recently 
completed  at  the  University  of  Michigan.  This  building, 
with  a  seating  capacity  of  something  over  six  thousand, 
is  so  perfect  in  its  acoustic  qualities  that  when  two  extra 
rows  of  seats,  which  had  not  been  planned  for  by  the 
architects  in  the  general  scheme  of  the  building,  were 
added  in  the  rear,  they  proved  to  be  valueless.  For  the 
people  in  the  rows  immediately  ahead  the  acoustics  were 
perfect,  but  persons  seated  in  these  last  two  rows  could 
hear  only  with  much  difficulty. 

But  hardly  ever  does  the  beginner  have  the  advantage 
of  such  ideal  conditions.  He  is  usually  obliged  to  get 
his  experience  by  speaking  in  places  where  the  conditions 
are  very  imperfect  and  where  his  success  depends  upon 
his  ability  to  master  the  difficult  situation.  It  is  neces- 
sary, therefore,  that  he  understand  the  conditions  that 
he  will  be  certain  to  meet,  and  be  able  to  cope  with 
them  intelligently. 

How  to  meet  acoustic  conditions.  Perhaps  the  surest 
test  of  whether  or  not  the  speaker  is  meeting  the  acous- 
tic requirements  of  the  room  in  which  he  speaks  is  by 
observing  the  people  in  the  back  rows.   If  they  are  leaning 


FORCE  273 

forward  and  apparently  hearing  with  difficulty,  or  if  they 
seem  restless  and  indifferent,  the  speaker  needs  no  further 
evidence  that  he  is  not  doing  his  duty.  Obviously  if  he  is 
to  make  a  successful  speech,  he  must  make  his  voice  reach 
out  to  those  in  the  most  remote  parts  of  the  room.  This 
requires  the.  employment  of  sufficient  force  to  give  the  voice 
the  necessary  carrying  power.  This  may  be  accomplished 
by  good  breath  support  and  very  clear  enunciation. 

Force,  secured  with  effort  by  means  of  labored  breath- 
ing or  accompanied  by  imperfect  enunciation,  is  hardly 
more  effective  than  a  tone  so  weak  that  it  cannot  be  easily 
heard.  The  ranter  who  shouts,  expending  all  his  breath 
as  he  goes  along,  is  never  effective.  The  speaker  should 
be  able,  by  means  of  proper  control  of  breath,  to  give 
to  the  voice  all  the  power  that  may  be  needed  under 
any  circumstance,  but  always  in  a  manner  that  shows  an 
abundance   of  reserve  power. 

The  principle  of  reserve  power  most  essential.  It  is 
this  power  held  constantly  in  reserve  that  is  one  of  the 
speaker's  greatest  elements  of  strength.  If  he  is  able,  by 
means  of  good  breath  support,  very  clear  enunciation,  and 
a  proper  amount  of  force,  to  produce  tones  that  reach 
easily  to  every  part  of  the  room  in  which  he  speaks,  and 
that  seem  to  his  hearers  to  be  made  with  no  more  effort 
than  the  tones  of  his  ordinary  conversation,  he  has 
mastered  one  of  the  fine  arts  of  the  public  speaker. 
Labored  speaking  is  always  difficult  to  listen  to.  It  gets 
on  the  nerves  of  the  audience  and  makes  them  wonder 
why  the  speaker  needs  to  work  so  hard  to  make  himself 
heard.  On  the  other  hand,  one  of  the  most  satisfying 
experiences  of  an  audience  is  the  feeling,  on  hearing  the 


274  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

opening  words,  that  here  is  a  speaker  whom  they  are 
going  to  be  able  to  hsten  to  without  effort ;  and  when  he 
has  finished  they  marvel  at  the  ease  with  which  the  thing 
was  done.  No  matter  how  much  vocal  energy  may  be 
employed  to  make  one's  self  clearly  heard  and  under- 
stood, there  should  be  always  such  an  abundance  held  in 
reserve  that  a  great  deal  more  might  be  used  if  necessary. 
This  gives  the  speaker  a  certain  potential  strength  and 
poise  that  add  remarkably  to  his  power. 

Skill  gained  only  by  practice  and  experience.  In  order 
to  become  skilled  in  these  things  a  very  great  deal  of 
practice  and  experience  are  necessary.  The  student  of 
speaking  should  not  confine  his  practice  to  a  single  room. 
He  should  try  out  his  voice  in  rooms  of  many  different 
shapes  and  sizes.  He  should  test  the  acoustic  conditions 
of  different  auditoriums  under  various  circumstances.  He 
should  seek  opportunities  to.  address  actual  audiences. 
He  should  supplement  his  classroom  work  with  experi- 
ments of  all  sorts  that  will  aid  him  in  becoming  proficient 
in  that  which  is  altogether  important  in  every  public 
speech  —  the  adaptation  of  the  voice  to  the  existing  con- 
ditions that  must  be  met.  The  problem  is  very  similar  to 
that  of  establishing  the  proper  key.  The  voice  that  is  not 
keyed  to  suit  the  place  and  circumstances  grates  upon  the 
ear  and  interferes  with  the  proper  balance  of  the  speech ; 
so  the  voice  that  is  not  well  adapted  to  the  room,  whether 
it  have  the  fault  of  being  too  weak  or  too  loud,  fails  to 
satisfy  the  ear,  and  has  the  effect  of  making  the  speech 
either  a  complete  failure  or,  at  best,  more  or  less  ineffective. 
Those  who  gain  skill  in  adapting  the  voice  to  meet  vary- 
ing conditions  must  sooner  or  later  go  through  some  such 


FORCE  275 

laboratory  process  as  the  one  suggested,  and  it  is  usually 
better  for  the  student  to  learn  how  it  is  done  while  he  is 
learning  the  other  principles  of  speaking  than  to  gain  his 
experience  from  repeated  failures  sometime  in  the  future. 

This  training  may  be  gained  in  the  ways  already 
suggested  and  also  by  public-speaking  convocations,  when 
several  classes  in  speaking  meet  in  a  large  hall  or  audi- 
torium where  the  conditions  for  speaking  are  very  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  classroom,  and  where  a  different 
audience  and  atmosphere  place  upon  each  speaker  in  a 
very  real  way  the  difficult  task  of  adaptation. 

Force  as  an  element  of  expression.  In  the  second 
place  the  principle  of  force  is  employed  by  the  speaker 
in  the  expression  of  different  sentiments.  Like  quality, 
force  is  chiefly  an  emotional  element,  and  is  of  much 
importance  in  the  expression  of  very  intense  feelings. 
It  is  a  special  agent  for  the  expression  of  great  earnest- 
ness. A  comparison  of  the  following  passages  will  make 
its  use  clear : 

Talent  is  something,  but  tact  is  everything.  Talent  is 
serious,  sober,  grave,  respectable ;  tact  is  all  that  and  more 
too.  It  is  not  a  sixth  sense,  but  it  is  the  life  of  all  the  five. 
It  is  the  open  eye,  the  quick  ear,  the  judging  taste,  the 
keen  smell,  and  the  lively  touch ;  it  is  the  interpreter  of  all 
riddles,  the  surmounter  of  all  difficulties,  the  remover  of 
all  obstacles.  —  The  London  Atlas ^  "  Tact  and  Talent " 

I  know  that  the  conquest  of  English  America  is  an  impos- 
sibility. You  cannot,  I  venture  to  say  it,  you  cannot  conquer 
America.  ...  If  I  were  an  American,  as  I  am  an  English- 
man, while  a  foreign  troop  was  landed  in  my  country,  I 
never  would  lay  down  my  arms  —  never  —  never  —  never  1 
Lord  Chatham,  "  The  American  War  " 


2/6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

In  the  first  quotation  we  find  a  very  plain,  matter-of- 
fact  comparison  of  the  two  quahties,  tact  and  talent.  No 
emotion  is  expressed,  and  there  is  evidently  no  purpose 
other  than  to  set  forth  clearly  the  significance  and  value 
of  the  two  principles.  In  the  second  case  the  great 
earnestness  of  the  speaker  is  clearly  manifested  in  the 
burning  words  of  every  line.  Now,  in  the  expression  of 
these  widely  different  passages  it  is  evident  that  the  first 
requires  no  special  force  of  voice  ;  while  the  second,  in 
which  the  aim  of  Lord  Chatham  was  to  impress  upon 
the  House  of  Lords  his  deep  feeling  in  regard  to  the 
independence  of  America,  was  no  doubt  spoken  with  a 
very  great  deal  of  force.  Force,  then,  is  the  distinctly 
dynamic  element  in  speech  that  reveals  the  intensity  of 
the  speaker's  earnestness. 

It  should  not  be  confused  with  mere  loud  or  brawling 
utterance.  As  has  been  aptly  said,  ''  All  force  is  no  force." 
The  speaker  who  shouts,  roars,  and  bellows  about  the 
platform  does  not  understand  the  first  principle  of  render- 
ing speech  effective  by  means  of  this  vocal  element.  The 
proper  use  of  force  implies  the  same  careful  discrimina- 
tion that  is  necessary  with  the  principles  of  pitch,  time, 
and  quality  as  instruments  of  effective  expression.  When 
the  speaker  feels  very  deeply  upon  a  subject  and  is  moved 
to  give  expression  to  his  feelings,  his  earnestness  usually 
manifests  itself  in  a  very  dynamic  way  by  the  exercise  of 
a  great  deal  of  force.  To  be  sure,  his  feeling  will  probably 
not  be  revealed  by  this  element  alone.  The  color  of  the 
voice,  together  with  the  pitch  and  time  elements,  will  play 
a  part,  but  by  means  of  his  strongly  energized  speech  his 
earnestness  will  be  made  unmistakable. 


FORCE  2T^ 

Force  as  a  means  of  securing  variety.  It  should  be 
remembered,  however,  that  emotions  rise  and  fall.  Rarely 
do  they  remain  stable  throughout  an  entire  speech,  but 
change  constantly  with  the  varying  thought  and  purpose 
of  the  speaker.  It  is  true  that  certain  types  of  hysterical 
speakers,  who  work  themselves  up  to  a  pitch  of  emotional 
frenzy,  do  employ  a  kind  of  energized  speech  that  con- 
tinues with  almost  unvaried  force  for  long  periods  of  time  ; 
but  inasmuch  as  such  persons  usually  have  neither  thought 
nor  purpose,  it  cannot  be  called  a  true  expression  of 
the  speaker's  earnestness,  but  a  more  or  less  mechanical 
adjustment  or  habit  of  voice.  True  earnestness  is  ever 
varying  throughout  the  progress  of  a  speech,  this  variation 
taking  the  form  of  greater  or  less  vocal  intensity,  which 
performs  the  same  function  in  overcoming  monotony  of 
utterance  as  do  modulations  of  pitch,  changes  in  time, 
and  variations  of  tone  color. 

The  speaker  may  be  tremendously  in  earnest  over  his 
subject,  but  he  will  not  be  likely  to  begin  to  speak  all  at 
once  in  a  vociferous  tone.  Emotions  rise  slowly  and  show 
fire  as  they  grow.  The  natural  thing  is  to  begin  a  speech 
in  a  calm  tone  of  voice  that  requires  little  vocal  effort, 
and  then  to  increase  in  vocal  intensity  as  the  thought 
is  developed  and  the  emotions  begin  to  rise.  But  this 
increase  in  vocal  intensity  is  not  so  much  a  gradual  as  an 
undulating  process.  That  is,  as  a  certain  emotion  begins 
to  take  form  the  voice  becomes  more  and  more  intense 
until  the  emotion  reaches  its  height ;  then,  as  that  particu- 
lar emotion  ceases,  there  comes  transition  in  thought  and  a 
diminishing  of  the  force  of  the  voice.  Thus,  by  a  kind  of 
undulating  series,  emotions  continue  to  rise  and  fall  with 


2/8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

a  corresponding  increase  in  vocal  intensity,  so  that  force 
of  voice  is  rendered  an  almost  indispensable  instrument 
for  overcoming  monotony  in  speech. 

Force  an  especial  agent  of  effective  climax.  In  this  way 
force  becomes  a  most  valuable  means  of  securing  effective 
climax.  The  final  appeal  of  Lord  Chatham,  *'  I  never  would 
lay  down  my  arms  —  never  —  never  —  never  !  "  would  be 
insipid  enough  were  it  not  for  very  dynamic  application  of 
force  of  the  voice  on  the  last  three  words,  which  express 
the  speaker's  purpose  with  wonderful  climactic  effect. 
Here  the  feeling  of  the  speaker  is  very  great,  and  is  mani- 
fested by  increased  vocal  intensity,  thus  :  ''never — Never 
—  NEVER!"  The  same  is  heard  often  in  the  expression 
of  impatience  or  annoyance,  as,  ''  Don't  ask  me  again,  I 
said  no !  No !  NO  !  "  In  fact,  this  principle  of  climax 
secured  by  a  gradual  increase  in  force  of  the  voice  is 
the  most  common  method  of  expressing  the  conclusion 
of  very  strong  feeling.  It  is  employed  in  practically  all 
strongly  emotional  speeches,  and  occurs  not  only  upon 
a  series  of  words  but  also  upon  consecutive  phrases,  sen- 
tences, or  paragraphs. 

The  speeches  of  Webster  are  replete  with  examples  of 
this  principle,  as : 

All  that  I  have,  and  all  that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  hope  in 
this  life,  I  am  now  ready  to  stake  upon  it ;  and  I  leave  off 
as  I  began,  that,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  am  for  the 
declaration.  It  is  my  living  sentiment,  and,  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  it  shall  be  my  dying  sentiment;  independence 
now,   and  independence  forever. 

Such  telling  climaxes  as  these  do  not  usually  occur  in  the 
midst  of  a  speech,  but  at  a  point  where  all  the  emotions 


FORCE  279 

of  the  speaker  seem  fused  into  one  mighty  appeal,  which 
is  generally  at  the  close.  It  is  this  more  or  less  regular 
undulating  rise  and  fall  of  the  emotions,  accompanied  by 
corresponding  degrees  of  vocal  intensity  throughout  the 
speech,  that  render  force  an  effective  instrument  for 
securing  variety  in  speaking. 

The  two  common  misuses  of  the  principle  of  force 
seem  to  be  "no  force"  and  "all  rorce."  One  can  con- 
ceive of  discussion  where  no  force  would  be  necessary, 
but  even  then,  if  the  speaker  has  any  personal  biases 
or  hobbies  in  regard  to  the  subject,  he  will  undoubtedly 
manifest  his  earnestness  by  the  employment  of  a  good 
deal  of  force  in  his  speaking.  Indeed,  it  is  very  rare 
that  one  speaks  upon  any  subject  without  manifesting 
sufficient  earnestness  to  require  a  considerable  amount  of 
force ;  and  the  difference  in  the  amount  of  force  used  in 
expressing  different  degrees  of  earnestness  serves  to  give 
a  nice  variety  to  the  speaker's  method. 

The  other  type  of  speaking,  which  is  "all  force,"  is 
objectionable  chiefly  because  it  gives  the  ear  no  respite. 
The  constant  tension  at  which  the  ear  is  held  by  the 
steady,  vociferous  stream  of  tone  produces  an  effect  both 
monotonous  and  extremely  fatiguing.  The  speaker  who 
employs  force  constantly  for  everything  as  he  goes  along 
has  no  opportunity  to  use  it  when  the  demand  for  it 
becomes  imperative.  The  important  thing  is  that  the 
speaker  be  guided  by  his  earnestness  of  purpose  and  the 
ever-varying  intensity  of  his  feelings,  so  that  force  becomes 
a  thing  not  merely  formal  and  perfunctory,  but  a  really 
vital  factor  of  his  expression.  Let  it  be  remembered,  then, 
that  force  is  the  distinctly  dynamic  element  of  speech, 


28o  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

which,  if  used  with  skill  and  discrimination,  will  enable 
the  speaker  to  make  himself  heard  clearly  at  all  times 
and  to  impress  upon  others  in  the  most  forceful  way  his 
own  earnestness  of  purpose. 

Let  the  student  make  a  careful  study  of  the  principle 
of  force,  first,  by  practical  experiments  in  adapting  the 
voice  to  different  auditoriums  and  testing  the  acoustic 
conditions  of  each  ;  second,  by  observing  various  degrees 
of  emotional  earnestness  manifested  by  speakers  under 
different  circumstances  and  by  attempting  to  express 
vocally  the  earnestness  that  he  conceives  the  speaker  to 
have  felt  as  he  spoke  the  lines.  In  making  this  comparison 
he  will  observe  that  the  degrees  of  the  speaker's  earnest- 
ness may  vary  all  the  way  from  subdued  emotions  to 
lofty  and  impassioned  speech. 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  IN  FORCE 

Exercise  I.  Deliver  a  declamation  or  short  original 
speech  in  a  small  room  suited  to  accommodate  a  dozen 
persons ;  deliver  the  same  speech  in  a  room  that  would 
seat  fifty  persons  ;  then  in  one  that  would  seat  three  or 
four  hundred  ;  and  finally  in  an  auditorium  with  a  capacity 
of  several  thousand.  Give  careful  attention  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  voice  adjusts  itself  to  the  different  conditions 
and  also  to  the  acoustic  problems  presented  in  each  case. 

Exercise  II.  Seek  rooms  for  practice  that  present 
peculiar  problems  of  adaptation,  such  as  very  long,  narrow 
rooms  with  low  ceilings  ;  rooms  with  widely  projecting 
balconies  or  with  many  nooks  and  recesses.  Study  the 
difficulties  presented  by  each. 

Exercise  III.  Speak  before  actual  audiences — a  Sun- 
day school,  a  young  people's  society,  a  club,  or  any  other 


FORCE  281 

organization  that  will  serve  to  test  the  carrying  power 
of  the  voice.  Observe  whether  there  are  any  in  the 
audience  v^ho  appear  to  be  making  an  effort  to  hear  or 
who  seem  indifferent  to  your  message.  Make  tne  test  a 
thoroughly  practical  one. 

Exercise    IV.     Read   the   following   sentences   with 
proper  application  of  force : 

1.  They  tell  us,  sir,  that  we  are  weak.  .  .  .  Sir,  we  are 
not  weak. 

2.  If  we  fail,  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.  But  we  shall 
not  fail. 

3.  Gentlemen  may  cry.  Peace,  peace  !  but  there  is  no 
peace. 

4.  The  war  is  inevitable,  and  let  it  come !  I  repeat  it, 
sir,  let  it  come ! 

5.  The  war  then  must  go  on.    We  must  fight  it  through. 

Exercise  V.    Read  with  steadily  increasing  intensity 
of  voice  the  following  effective  climaxes  : 

1.  We  may  die ;  die,  colonists ;  die,  slaves ;  die,  it  may 
be  ignominiously  and  upon  the  scaffold.   Be  it  so.    Be  it  so. 

2.  But  while  I  do  live  let  me  have  a  country,  or  at  least 
the  hope  of  a  country,  and  that  a  free  country. 

3.  All  that  I  have,  and  all  that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  hope 
in  this  life,  I  am  here  ready  to  stake  upon  it. 

4.  Gentlemen,  I  am  a  Whig ;  a  Massachusetts  Whig ;  a 
Faneuil  Hall  Whig ;  a  revolutionary  Whig ;  a  constitutional 
Whig;  and  if  you  break  up  the  Whig  party,  where  am  I 
to  go? 

5.  I  am  for  the  declaration.  It  is  my  living  sentiment, 
and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  it  shall  be  my  dying  sentiment  ; 
independence  now,  and  independence  forever. 


282  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Exercise  VI.  Read  with  steadily  increasing  intensity 
of  voice  the  following  climaxes  running  throughout  whole 
paragraphs : 

1 .  We  have  petitioned  ;  we  have  remonstrated ;  we  have 
supplicated  ;  we  have  prostrated  ourselves  before  the  throne, 
and  have  implored  its  interposition  to  arrest  the  tyrannical 
hands  of  the  ministry  and  Parliament.  ...  If  we  wish  to 
be  free  —  if  we  mean  to  preserve  inviolate  those  inestimable 
privileges  for  which  we  have  been  so  long  contending  —  if 
we  mean  not  basely  to  abandon  the  noble  struggle  in  which 
we  have  been  so  long  engaged,  and  which  we  have  pledged 
ourselves  never  to  abandon  until  the  glorious  object  of  our 
contest  shall  be  obtained  —  we  must  fight !  I  repeat  it,  sir, 
we  must  fight !  —  Patrick  Henry,  "  Call  to  Arms  " 

2.  Read  this  declaration  at  the  head  of  the  army;  every 
sword  will  be  drawn  from  its  scabbard,  and  the  solemn  vow 
uttered  to  maintain  it,  or  to  perish  on  the  bed  of  honor. 
Publish  it  from  the  pulpit ;  religion  will  approve  it,  and  the 
love  of  religious  liberty  will  cling  round  it,  resolved  to  stand 
with  it  or  fall  with  it.  Send  it  to  the  public  halls ;  proclaim 
it  there;  let  them  hear  it  who  heard  the  first  roar  of  the 
enemy's  cannon;  let  them  see  it  who  saw  their  brothers 
and  their  sons  fall  on  the  field  of  Bunker  Hill  and  in 
the  streets  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  and  the  very  walls 
will  cry  out  in  its  support. 

Webster,  "American  Independence" 

3.  Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  in  the  name  of  the 
Great  Republic,  the  only  republic  that  ever  existed  upon 
this  earth ;  in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders  and  of  all  her 
supporters;  in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers  living;  in  the 
name  of  all  her  soldiers  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle ;  and 
in  the  name  of  those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch 
of  famine  at  Andersonville  and  Libby,  whose  sufferings  he 


FORCE  283 

so  vividly  remembers,  Illinois  —  Illinois  nominates  for  the 
next  president  of  this  country  that  prince  of  parliamentarians, 
that  leader  of  leaders,  James  G.  Blaine. 

Ingersoll,  "  The  Plumed  Knight " 

Exercise  VII.  Study  the  varying  degrees  of  emotion 
of  the  following  selections.  Read  them  with  careful  dis- 
crimination as  to  the  force  that  would  seem  appropriate 
to  the  expression  of  each : 

1.  The  relations  of  the  Southern  people  with  the  negro 
are  close  and  cordial.  We  remember  with  what  fidelity  for 
four  years  he  guarded  our  defenseless  women  and  children, 
whose  husbands  and  fathers  were  fighting  against  his  free- 
dom. To  his  credit  be  it  said  that  whenever  he  struck  a 
blow  for  his  own  liberty  he  fought  in  open  battle;  and 
when  at  last  he  raised  his  black  and  humble  hands  that  the 
shackles  might  be  struck  off,  those  hands  were  innocent  of 
wrong  against  his  helpless  charges,  and  worthy  to  be  taken 
in  loving  grasp  by  every  man  who  honors  loyalty  and  de- 
votion. Ruffians  have  maltreated  him,  rascals  have  misled 
him,  philanthropists  established  a  bank  for  him,  but  the 
South  with  the  North  protests  against  injustice  to  this  simple 
and  sincere  people.  —  H.  W.  Grady,  "  The  New  South  " 

2.  Force  compelled  the  signature  of  unwilling  royalty  to 
the  great  Magna  Charta ;  force  put  life  into  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  made  effective  the  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation ;  force  waved  the  flag  of  revolution  over  Bunker 
Hill  and  marked  the  snows  of  Valley  Forge  with  blood- 
stained feet ;  force  held  the  broken  line  of  Shiloh,  climbed 
the  flame-swept  hill  at  Chattanooga,  and  stormed  the  clouds 
on  Lookout  Heights ;  force  marched  with  Sherman  to  the 
sea,  rode  with  Sheridan  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah, 
and  gave  Grant  victory  at  Appomattox ;  force  saved  the 
Union,  kept  the  stars  in  the  flag,  made  "  niggers  "  men. 


284  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  time  for  God's  force  has  come  again.  .  .  .  Others  may 
hesitate,  others  may  procrastinate,  others  may  plead  for 
further  diplomatic  negotiation,  which  means  delay,  but  for 
me,  I  am  ready  to  act  now^  and  for  my  action  I  am  ready 
to  answer  to  my  conscience,  my  country,  and  my  God. 
John  M.  Thurston,  "A  Plea  for  Cuba" 

3.  Shylock.  There  I  have  another  bad  match  :  a  bank- 
rupt, a  prodigal,  who  dare  scarce  show  his  head  on  the 
Rialto ;  a  beggar,  that  was  used  to  come  so  smug  upon 
the  mart ;  let  him  look  to  his  bond :  he  was  wont  to  call 
me  usurer;  let  him  look  to  his  bond:  he  was  wont  to 
lend  money  for  a  Christian  courtesy ;  let  him  look  to  his 
bond.  .  .  .  He  hath  disgraced  me,  and  hindered  me  half  a 
million ;  laughed  at  my  losses,  mocked  at  my  gains,  scorned 
my  nation,  thwarted  my  bargains,  cooled  my  friends,  heated 
mine  enemies ;  and  what 's  his  reason  ?  I  am  a  Jew.  Hath 
not  a  Jew  eyes.?  hath  not  a  Jew  hands,  organs,  dimen- 
sions, senses,  affections,  passions  ?  fed  with  the  same  food, 
hurt  with  the  same  weapons,  subject  to  the  same  diseases, 
healed  by  the  same  means,  warmed  and  cooled  by  the  same 
winter  and  summer,  as  a  Christian  is  ?  If  you  prick  us,  do 
we  not  bleed  ?  if  you  tickle  us,  do  we  not  laugh .?  if  you 
poison  us,  do  we  not  die  ?  and  if  you  wrong  us,  shall  we 
not  revenge  ?  If  we  are  like  you  in  the  rest,  we  will  re- 
semble you  in  that.  If  a  Jew  wrong  a  Christian,  what  is 
his  humility  ?  Revenge.  If  a  Christian  wrong  a  Jew,  what 
should  his  sufferance  be  by  Christian  example.?  Why,  re- 
venge. The  villainy  you  teach  me,  I  will  execute,  and  it 
shall  go  hard  but  I  will  better  the  instruction. 

Shakespeare,  "  Merchant  of  Venice,"  III,  i 

4.  Citizens  [on  being  shown  the  wounds  inflicted  by 
Caesar's  assassins].  Revenge  !  About !  Seek  !  Burn  !  Fire  ! 
Kill !  Slay  1  Let  not  a  traitor  live  ! 

Shakespeare,  "Julius  Caesar,"  III,  ii 


CHAPTER  XII 
EMPHASIS 

Emphasis  is  a  special  prominence  given  by  the  voice 
to  a  word  or  group  of  words  in  order  to  make  them 
stand  out  above  the  other  parts  of  the  sentence  in  which 
they  occur. 

The  function  of  emphasis.  The  need  for  emphasis  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  all  words  in  a  sentence  do  not  usually 
play  an  equal  part  in  expressing  the  main  idea.  As  we 
know,  some  are  altogether  essential  for  expressing  the 
thought,  while  others  are  relatively  less  important  and  can 
be  passed  over  with  little  attention.  But  in  order  to  make 
the  thought  of  any  sentence  clear,  there  are  always  some 
parts  that  must  be  made  to  stand  out  prominently,  and 
it  is  the  function  of  emphasis  to  accomplish  this. 

In  all  expression  there  is  a  constant  stream  of  ideas 
that  follow  one  another  in  rapid  succession,  and  as  each 
of  these  ideas  occurs,  the  mind  tends  to  center  upon 
those  words  that  serve  to  convey  its  meaning.  If  the 
mind  is  active  and  the  speaker  intent  upon  the  idea  to 
be  expressed,  there  is  not  likely  to  be  a  great  deal  of 
misplaced  emphasis.  But  if  his  ideas  are  merely  floating 
along  loosely,  or  if  he  has  an  imperfect  understanding  of 
what  he  is  trying  to  express,  the  emphasis  is  likely  to  be 
applied  in  a  very  haphazard  fashion.  It  is  to  avoid  this 
indiscriminate  use  of  emphasis  and  to  enable  the  speaker 

285 


286  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

to  express  at  all  times  exactly  what  he  intends  that  a 
study  of  this  principle  is  necessary. 

The  determining  factor  of  emphasis.  It  is  not  at  all 
uncommon  to  hear  strong  emphasis  applied  to  words  that 
express  no  definite  idea  and  therefore  should  have  no 
emphasis  at  all,  as  in  the  sentence  ''It  is  evident  that 
a  change  is  necessary."  To  give  emphasis  to  the  word 
"  that "  in  this  instance  is  to  stress  a  part  of  the  sentence 
that  is  not  a  thought  center  and  that  needs  no  promi- 
nence. Such  expression,  with  undue  emphasis  placed 
upon  very  unimportant  parts  of  a  sentence,  shows  a  lack 
of  clear  mental  concept  and  a  failure  to  fix  the  attention 
upon  the  important  idea.  It  is  the  idea  that  in  every 
instance  must  determine  the  emphasis  to  be  employed. 

Almost  any  sentence  may  be  made  to  convey  a 
variety  of  meanings,  depending  upon  the  idea  that  is 
in  the  mind  of  the  speaker  or  writer.  This  simple  sen- 
tence will  illustrate : 

James  is  a  good  student. 

If  it  is  the  idea  that  James  rather  than  some  other  student 
is  the  subject  of  discussion,  it  would  be  expressed  thus  : 
James  is  a  good  student. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  meaning  is  that  James  is  a  good 
student  although  he  may  be  poor  as  an  athlete  or  in  some 
other  respect,  one  would  say  : 

James  is  a  good  student. 

If  the  meaning  is  that  James's  scholarship  is  of  such  a 

quality  as  to  deserve  special  mention,  then  we  should  say: 

James  is  a  good  student. 


/ 

EMPHASIS  287 

While  if  someone  were  disposed  to  doubt  our  statements 
in  regard  to  his  scholarship,  we  should  most  likely  assert 
very  emphatically : 

James  is  a  good  student. 

Emphasis  not  a  mechanical  principle.  In  every  sen- 
tence, therefore,  we  find  that  the  prominence  given  to 
one  part  or  to  another  should  be  determined  not  by 
mechanical  laws  but  always  by  the  thought.  Unless  it  is 
the  thought  that  in  every  case  determines  what  parts 
are  to  be  given  prominence,  the  expression  becomes 
mere  chance,  and  the  speaker  has  no  assurance  of  being 
correctly  understood. 

Emphasis  not  determined  by  parts  of  speech.  It  is 
sometimes  suggested  by  teachers  that  there  are  certain 
so-called  key  words,  such  as  nouns,  verbs,  adjectives,  and 
adverbs,  that  carry  the  main  thought  of  every  sentence 
and  therefore  should  receive  the  emphasis ;  while  the 
articles,  prepositions,  conjunctions,  and  other  minor  parts 
of  speech,  which  serve  merely  as  articulating  elements,  are 
to  be  passed  over  with  little  or  no  attention  by  the  voice. 
Such  a  method  of  employing  emphasis  would  be  decidedly 
mechanical.  While  it  is  true  that  words  of  the  former 
class  do  receive  prominence  more  often  than  the  latter, 
it  is  neither  necessary  nor  desirable  to  give  attention  to 
any  particular  parts  of  speech  more  than  to  others.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  any  part  of  speech  may  become  emphatic 
when  the  idea  to  be  expressed  makes  it  necessary.  In  the 
sentence  "He  is  tke  man  for  the  place,"  if  the  meaning 
is  that  he  is  the  one  man  best  fitted  to  occupy  a  certain 
position,  then  the  article  has  just  as  definite  meaning  as 


288  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

any  other  part  of  speech,  and  should  be  given  the  same 
prominence  by  the  voice.  Similarly,  Webster,  in  speaking 
of  liberty  and  union,  pleads  for  a  policy  not  of  liberty  first 
and  union  afterward,  but  of  "  liberty  and  union."  And  in 
the  Gettysburg  address  Lincoln  speaks  of  ''government 
of  the  people,  fy  the  people,  /or  the  people."  Here  we 
find  that  the  ''  of,"  ''  by,"  and  ''  for  "  of  Lincoln's  address 
convey  ideas  as  definite  and  important  as  might  be  ex- 
pressed by  any  other  parts  of  speech,  and  accordingly  are 
no  less  emphatic.  Therefore  no  attention  need  be  given 
to  one  part  of  speech  more  than  to  another.  Any  word, 
even  the  most  insignificant,  may  express  an  idea  and 
require  definite  emphasis. 

Emphasis  not  dependent  upon  any  given  number  of 
words.  Moreover,  it  should  not  be  supposed  that  ideas 
can  always  be  expressed  by  emphasis  centered  upon 
single  words.  Not  a  few  beginning  speakers  have  the 
idea  that  the  whole  problem  of  emphasis  is  one  of  bring- 
ing the  voice  down  with  much  stress  upon  one  or  two 
words  in  every  sentence.  The  result  is  that  their  delivery 
has  the  effect  of  a  kind  of  regular  pounding  with  the  voice, 
rather  than  that  of  a  nice  touch  which  expresses  accurately 
relative  values.  They  should  understand  that  the  voice 
does  not  by  any  means  center  always  upon  single  words. 
Constantly  it  does  this,  of  course,  but  it  is  just  as  apt  to 
center  upon  several  words  or  to  carry  its  weight  through- 
out a  whole  phrase  or  clause. 

.  The  following  lines  from  Patrick  Henry  illustrate  how 
ideas  may  be  centered  in  single  words  or  how  they 
may  require  an  entire  phrase  to  express  their  meaning : 
"  We  have  petitioned ;  we  have  remonstrated ;  we  have 


EMPHASIS  289 

supplicated ;  we  have  prostrated  ourselves  before  the 
throne."  If  we  analyze  the  thought  contained  in  each  of 
these  clauses,  we  find  that  the  idea  in  the  first  is  centered 
chiefly  in  the  word  "petitioned  ";  that  of  the  second,  in 
the  word  "remonstrated";  and  that  of  the  third,  in  the 
word  "supplicated."  But  in  the  fourth  clause  the  idea  is 
not  expressed  completely  by  centering  upon  a  single  word. 
To  read  the  clause  thus :  "we  have  prostrated  ourselves 
before  the  throne,"  would  be  to  express  the  thought  very 
imperfectly.  Each  of  the  words  "  petitioned,"  "  remon- 
strated," "supplicated,"  expresses  a  complete  idea,  while 
clearly  the  word  "  prostrated  "  does  not.  It  is  necessary 
to  carry  the  weight  of  the  voice  throughout  the  phrase 
before  the  thought  is  entirely  clear.  So  we  say  "we  have 
prostrated  ourselves  before  the  throne^''  thus  applying 
emphasis  not  to  a  single  word,  but  to  the  group  through- 
out which  the  thought  is  distributed.  So,  very  often,  the 
thought  is  not  centered  in  one  or  two  words,  but  extends 
throughout  a  whole  phrase  or  clause. 

Careless  emphasis  very  common.  It  has  been  interest- 
ing to  observe  that  untrained  students,  when  called  upon 
to  read  the  sentences  just  quoted,  almost  without  exception 
give  the  same  emphasis  to  the  word  "prostrated"  as  to  the 
words  "petitioned,"  "remonstrated,"  and  "supplicated," 
neglecting  entirely  the  remaining  words  of  the  phrase, 
"  ourselves  before  the  throne,"  which  shows  clearly  that  it 
is  a  common  tendency  with  readers  to  employ  emphasis 
in  a  hit-or-miss  fashion,  not  taking  the  pains  to  think 
what  they  are  trying  to  express. 

The  same  is  true  of  many  people  in  the  expression  of 
their  own  thought.    In  a  recent  discussion  of  the  subject 


290  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

of  preparedness  a  student  throughout  an  entire  speech 
emphasized  insignificant  and  unimportant  words  as  follows : 

We  know  that  our  army  and  navy  are  inadequate.  We 
find  that  in  every  war  in  which  we  have  participated  that 
we  have  not  been  prepared.  And  so  it  is  evident  that  a 
plan  of  preparedness  is  necessary. 

This  is  the  result  of  very  loose  thinking,  wherein  the 
mind  does  not  look  forward  with  a  clear  grasp  of  the 
thought,  but  dwells  upon  very  unimportant  words  as  it 
gropes  its  way  along  without  any  very  clearly  defined 
course  to  follow. 

The  remedy.  The  natural  corrective  of  this  imperfect 
mode  of  expression  is  clear  and  intense  thinking.  If  the 
thoughts  of  another  are  being  interpreted,  the  reader 
must  gain  a  clear  mental  concept  of  the  writer's  mean- 
ing, and  then,  by  holding  his  mind  intently  upon  the 
concept  once  gained,  attempt  to  interpret  it  vocally.  In 
this  way  he  will  be  likely  to  apply  emphasis  correctly,  for 
his  voice  will  tend  naturally  to  focus  upon  the  words  that 
express  the  idea  that  he  has  in  mind.  The  same  is  true 
in  the  expression  of  one's  own  thought.  If  the  speaker 
thinks  loosely,  he  will  express  loosely.  But  if  he  con- 
centrates his  attention  upon  each  idea,  and  has  a  definite 
desire  to  express  it  clearly,  he  is  almost  certain  to  place 
emphasis  where  it  properly  belongs.  Surely  if  he  is  do- 
ing any  very  clear  thinking,  he  will  not  center  upon  un- 
important things,  as  ''  and  so  it  is  evident  that,''  but  rather 
upon  those  parts  of  the  sentence  which  convey  the  real 
meaning. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  discussion  to  lay  down  a 
set  of  rules  for  the  mechanical  application  of  emphasis. 


EMPHASIS  291 

but  rather  to  show  how  emphasis  is  the  result  of  the 
natural  action  of  the  voice  whenever  the  mind  is  active. 

Guiding  principles  of  emphasis.  As  already  suggested, 
there  is  in  all  expression  that  which  is  wholly  important, 
and  it  is  in  bringing  out  these  differences  in  values  that 
emphasis  is  indispensable. 

New  and  repeated  ideas.  As  to  what  is  essential  to  the 
meaning,  we  find  that  ideas  when  presented  for  the  first 
time  are  usually  important  and  need  to  be  emphasized, 
but  when  once  they  have  been  expressed  and  their  mean- 
ing brought  clearly  to  mind,  they  require  no  further  atten- 
tion. In  speaking  of  the  attitude  of  the  colonies  towards 
the  mother  country,  Henry  says,  "We  hdcvQ  petitioned \ 
we  have  remonstrate d\  we  have  supplicated .''  These  ideas, 
being  important  and  presented  for  the  first  time,  need  to 
be  emphasized ;  but  when  they  are  repeated  in  the  dis- 
cussion that  follows,  their  meaning  is  so  clearly  in  mind 
that  to  call  attention  to  them  again  would  be  not  only 
unnecessary  but  incorrect.  It  would  be  merely  calling 
attention  a  second  time  to  that  which  was  already  fully 
expressed.  So  in  the  further  discussion  of  the  subject 
he  says,  '*  Our  petitions  have  been  slighted  \  our  remon- 
strances have  produced  additioiial  violence  and  insult ; 
our  supplications  have  been  disregarded!'  The  important 
idea  here  that  has  to  be  made  prominent  in  each  case  is 
the  reception  that  has  been  accorded  our  petitions,  remon- 
strances, and  supplications  by  England.  Yet  how  often  do 
we  hear  pupils  thoughtlessly  read,  '*We  \\2iVQ.  petitioned] 
.  .  .  our  petitio7ts  have  been  slighted  " ;  or,  with  equal 
error,  the  words  of  Webster,  *'Let  me  have  a  country,  or 
at  least  the  hope  of  a  country,  and  that  a  free  country'' 


292  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

To  continue  to  emphasize  "country"  in  this  way  when  it 
was  made  sufficiently  clear  the  first  time  is  obviously  to 
do  so  without  thinking.  Clearly  what  is  needed  is  an 
awakening  of  the  mind.  If  the  speaker  is  really  think- 
ing intensely,  there  is  little  chance  of  his  continuing  to 
emphasize  again  and  again  that  which  needs  no  attention 
called  to  it. 

Ideas  repeated  for  the  sake  of  emphasis.  It  should  not 
be  supposed,  however,  that  the  same  thing  is  never  em- 
phasized a  second  time.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  ideas  are 
frequently  reemphasized  by  repetition  of  the  same  words 
when  the  speaker  considers  the  idea  of  such  importance 
that  it  needs  to  be  brought  to  the  attention  more  forcibly 
than  was  done  by  emphasizing  the  first  time.  Henry  says, 
''We  must  fight  \  I  repeat  it,  sir,  zve  mtcst  fight  \''  and 
again,  "  The  war  is  inevitable  and  let  it  come !  I  repeat 
it,  sir,  let  it  come !  "  In  each  case  the  ideas  are  repeated 
with  the  same  emphasis  and  with  probably  more  force 
than  the  first  time,  in  order  to  stress  the  very  great  im- 
portance attached  to  them  by  the  speaker.  In  some  cases 
an  idea  is  regarded  of  such  great  importance  by  the 
speaker  that  it  is  repeated  and  reemphasized  many  times 
in  exactly  the  same  way  as  at  first.  Lord  Chatham,  speak- 
ing of  the  American  colonies  and  his  admiration  for  the 
stand  they  had  taken,  says :  ''If  I  were  an  American,  as 
I  am  an  Englishman,  ...  I  never  would  lay  down  my 
arms  —  never —  never —  never''  And  Senator  Thurston, 
in  his  plea  for  the  exercise  of  force  in  Cuba,  in  order  to 
show  that  force  is  the  only  policy  that  ought  under  any 
circumstances  to  be  carried  into  effect,  repeats  the  idea 
again  and  again  throughout  an  entire  paragraph,  thus  : 


EMPHASIS  293 

Force  compelled  the  signature  of  unwilling  royalty  to  the 
great  Magna  Charta ;  force  put  life  into  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  made  effective  the  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation ;  force  waved  the  flag  of  revolution  over  Bunker  Hill 
and  marked  the  snows  of  Valley  Forge  with  blood-stained 
feet ;  force  held  the  broken  line  of  Shiloh,  climbed  the  flame- 
swept  hill  of  Chattanooga,  and  stormed  the  clouds  on  Look- 
out Heights ;  force  marched  with  Sherman  to  the  sea,  rode 
with  Sheridan  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  gave 
Grant  victory  at  Appomattox ;  force  saved  the  Union,  kept 
the  stars  in  the  flag,  made  niggers  men.  The  time  for  God's 
force  has  come  again. 

Emphasis  expressive  of  contrast.  Emphasis  is  also  a 
natural  means  of  expressing  contrasted  ideas.  It  is 
accomplished  by  setting  one  idea  over  against  another 
by  making  prominent  the  terms  that  show  the  contrast. 
Sometimes  it  is  the  contrast  merely  of  two  ideas  in  a 
sentence,  as  "I  go  but  I  return  "  ;  but  very  often  it  is 
a  series  of  contrasted  ideas  extending  through  many  sen- 
tences. In  such  expression  the  points  of  contrast  are 
numerous  and  have  to  be  brought  out  with  careful  dis- 
crimination in  order  to  make  the  thought  entirely  clear. 
The  following  lines  from  Wendell  Phillips's  "Toussaint 
L'Ouverture  "  illustrate  such  a  series  of  recurring  contrasts : 

If  I  were  to  tell  you  the  story  of  Napoleon,  I  should  take 
it  from  the  lips  of  Frenchmen,  who  find  no  language  rich 
enough  to  paint  the  great  captain  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Were  I  to  tell  you  the  story  of  Washington,  I  should  take 
it  from  your  hearts,  —  you  who  think  no  marble  white 
enough  on  which  to  carve  the  name  of  the  father  of  his 
country.  .  .  .  Cromwell  manufactured  his  own  army.  Napo- 
leon, at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  was  placed  at  the  head  of 


294  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

the  best  troops  Europe  ever  saw.  Cromwell  never  saw  an 
army  till  he  was  forty ;  this  man  [Toussaint]  never  saw  a 
soldier  till  he  was  fifty. 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  in  such  contrasts  as  these 
the  thought  cannot  be  expressed  merely  by  a  matching 
of  occasional  words.  The  thought  of  each  part  is  so  in- 
separably linked  with  the  main  idea  which  is  developed 
throughout  that  no  mechanical  application  of  emphasis 
will  express  truly  the  meaning.  It  requires  such  a  use 
of  vocal  emphasis  as  will  give  a  nice  discrimination  in 
all  the  parts,  and  this  is  something  that  can  be  accom- 
plished only  by  accurate  thinking. 

We  find  that  contrasts  are  not  always  fully  expressed, 
but  are  often  so  stated  that  their  meaning  may  be  readily 
inferred.  If  we  say  that  in  past  administrations  there 
have  been  secretaries  of  state  who  were  real  statesmen^ 
we  make  no  mention  of  a  lack  of  statesmanship  on 
the  part  of  any  incumbent  of  that  office  in  the  present 
administration,  yet  our  real  meaning  is  no  less  clear  than 
it  would  be  if  a  positive  statement  were  made  to  that 
effect.  Or  when  we  say  that  James  is  a  good  student, 
there  is  no  doubt  of  the  implication  that  there  is  some- 
one else  who  is  not. 

In  a  certain  sense  all  emphasis,  whether  implied  or 
expressed,  may  be  regarded  as  a  form  of  contrast,  for 
emphasis  is  in. reality  nothing  more  than  the  utterance 
of  certain  words  of  a  sentence  in  a  way  that  will  make 
them  stand  out  in  contrast  with  the  rest. 

Emphasis  dependent  upon  the  context.  The  foregoing 
suggestions  will  serve  to  throw  light  upon  the  much- 
abused  principle  of  vocal  emphasis  and,  I  trust,  will  help 


EMPHASIS  295 

the  student  to  become  discriminating  in  its  use.  How- 
ever, some  further  attention  needs  to  be  given  to  the 
principle  in  its  relation  to  expression  as  a  whole. 
'  The  meaning  of  any  given  unit  of  discourse  is  depend- 
ent upon  the  context.  In  our  discussion  of  phrasing  ^ 
we  found  that  a  sentence  might  express  one  thing  while 
standing  alone  and  something  entirely  different  when  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  other  sentences.  This  fact  renders 
impossible  the  employment  of  vocal  emphasis  according  to 
rule  and  makes  imperative  a  vigorous  exercise  of  the  mind. 

Emphasis  depends  directly  upon  the  thought  centers, 
but  since  the  thought  centers  are  always  subject  to  change, 
the  only  reliable  guide  is  a  clear  grasp  of  the  meaning 
considered  in  all  its  relations. 

The  following  will  illustrate  how  every  idea  is  more 
or  less  dependent  upon  other  ideas,  either  expressed  or 
implied,  which  have  to  be  taken  into  account  in  determin- 
ing correct  vocal  emphasis.  In  the  Gettysburg  address 
Lincoln  states  that  the  purpose  of  their  coming  together 
upon  that  occasion  is  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  the  battle- 
field to  the  soldiers  who  fought  there.  He  then  adds,  ''  It 
is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this." 
It  is  interesting  to  find  that  these  words  are  often  read 
with  strong  emphasis  upon  ''  should,"  which  would  imply 
that  Lincoln  intended  to  stress  the  idea  of  their  obliga- 
tion to  perform  this  act.  In  attempting  to  express  the 
thought  of  this  sentence  without  taking  into  consideration 
what  has  gone  before,  it  would  be  impossible  to  tell  just 
what  idea  was  intended  by  the  author.  But  if  we  try  to 
express  its  meaning  in  the  light  of  what  he  has  said  of 

1  See  page  223. 


296  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

the  purpose  of  the  occasion,  it  is  clear  that  there  is  no 
idea  of  obhgation  but  merely  a  statement  of  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  thing  that  is  fitting  and  proper  to  do. 

Similarly  we  find  a  number  of  different  interpretations 
of  the  sentence  which  follows.  Here  Lincoln  says,  '*  But, 
in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  —  we  cannot  conse- 
crate —  we  cannot  hallow  —  this  ground."  How  often  do 
we  hear  this  read  with  the  words  ''dedicate,"  "consecrate," 
and  "  hallow"  emphasized  as  if  they  expressed  entirely  new 
ideas  that  were  mentioned  for  the  first  time  and  needed  to 
be  made  prominent !  If  we  examine  the  context  we  shall 
find  that  the  thought  expressed  by  these  words  has  already 
been  clearly  brought  out  and  needs  no  further  attention. 
Still  other  readers,  who  seem  to  be  uncertain  about  how 
to  express  the  meaning  of  this  sentence,  will  give  chief 
emphasis  to  ''we"  or  to  "cannot,"  or  perhaps  to  various 
combinations  of  the  words  "we,"  "cannot,"  and  "dedicate." 
It  is  true  that  the  sentence,  if  considered  entirely  apart  from 
the  context,  might  be  somewhat  difficult  to  understand. 
But  if  the  reader  will  take  the  pains  to  note  that  the 
reason  "  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground  "  is  because  "  the 
brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have 
[already]  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or 
detract,"  the  meaning  becomes  perfectly  clear  and  the 
reader  does  not  need  to  puzzle  himself  about  what  word 
or  words  should  be  stressed ;  his  voice  follows  naturally 
the  action  of  his  mind. 

The  importance  of  accurate  thinking.  Such  uncertainty 
of  how  emphasis  should  be  used  is  due  to  one  thing,  and 
to  one  thing  only  —  the  fact  that  the  reader  has  not  suf- 
ficiently assimilated  the  thought  to  enable  him  to  know 


EMPHASIS  297 

what  ought  to  be  emphasized.  As  an  eminent  teacher 
said  recently:  "Anybody  can  emphasize  words  with  the 
voice.  There  is  Httle  difficulty  about  that.  The  main  trou- 
ble is  in  having  the  brains  to  know  what  to  emphasize." 

Not  long  since  a  writer  offered  the  suggestion  that 
pupils  in  learning  to  read  expressively  should  form  the 
habit  of  picking  out  the  main  parts  of  each  sentence,  the 
subject,  the  predicate,  and  the  object,  and  emphasizing 
them.  This  suggests  precisely  what  should  not  be  done. 
To  seek  out  structural  divisions  in  this  way  is  to  work 
not  only  mechanically  but  blindly.  The  examples  just 
cited  show  how  futile  it  would  be  to  attempt  to  employ 
emphasis  in  any  other  way  than  with  strict  attention  to 
the  context.  It  is  the  meaning,  not  the  structure,  that 
determines  where  emphasis  must  rest.  If  a  person  con- 
siders each  sentence  by  itself  without  regard  to  its  depend- 
ence upon  what  precedes  or  what  follows,  his  expression 
will  be^  comparable  to  the  lazy  droning  of  the  schoolboy 
who  utters  words  but  expresses  little  thought.  Attention 
to  subject  and  predicate  in  a  sentence  may  perhaps  help 
to  avoid  some  unnecessary  centering  upon  unimportant 
parts,  but  emphasis  is  something  that  has  to  be  employed 
so  subtly  and  in  such  unwonted  places  that  suggestions 
of  this  kind  are  worthless. 

The  only  way  in  which  ideas  can  be  expressed  accu- 
rately through  vocal  emphasis  is  by  the  aid  of  the  mind 
kept  alert  and  active  during  every  moment  of  utterance. 
Indeed,  it  is  the  active  mind  that  really  does  the  work. 
The  voice  merely  responds  in  whatever  way  the  mind 
prompts.  This  constant  alertness,  whereby  one  is  able 
to  comprehend  not  only  what  has  gone  before  but  to  a 


298  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

certain  extent  what  is  to  follow,  gives  a  full  and  complete 
grasp  of  the  meaning  of  every  part  and  enables  the  voice 
to  express  that  meaning  faithfully.  This  furnishes  the 
true  basis  for  expression  through  vocal  emphasis. 

The  logical  employment  of  this  principle.  Every  stu- 
dent of  speaking  is  eager  to  gain  a  mastery  in  the  use 
of  this  principle,  since  it  is  indispensable  to  expression. 
Unfortunately  he  usually  goes  about  it  in  just  the  wrong 
way.  His  first  query  is,  ''  What  words  must  I  emphasize 
in  order  to  express  this  properly  ? "  while  it  ought  to  be, 
*'  What  meaning  does  it  hold  ?  "  If  he  will  forget  en- 
tirely about  emphasizing  words  or  stressing  this  thing  or 
that,  and  will  center  his  attention  solely  upon  the  mean- 
ing so  that  thought  relations  become  assimilated  thor- 
oughly, he  need  have  no  concern  about  the  intricacies  of 
emphasis.  Whenever  thought  relations  are  made  suffi- 
ciently clear,  so  that  the  mind  naturally  says,  "  This  is  the 
meaning,"  the  voice,  if  it  has  been  made  responsi\{e,  will 
echo  truly  that  which  the  mind  has  clarified.  Here,  as 
in  every  other  principle  that  we  have  studied,  thought  is 
primary ;  all  other  things,  secondary.  And  if  the  student 
will  keep  his  mind  thoroughly  awake  all  the  time,  whether 
it  be  in  the  expression  of  his  own  thought  or  of  the 
thoughts  of  another,  the  chances  are  that  he  will  empha- 
size the  things  that  need  to  be  made  prominent.  More- 
over, he  will  tend  to  do  this  naturally  and  with  little  if 
any  thought  of  how  it  is  done. 

In  calling  attention  to  how  a  sentence  should  be  em- 
phasized, there  is  the  danger  of  fixing  the  attention  upon 
the  words  that  are  to  be  given  prominence  and  of  losing 
sight  of  their  meaning.    Whenever  this  happens  emphasis 


EMPHASIS  299 

becomes  largely  artificial,  and,  although  it  may  be  so 
employed  as  to  occur  in  the  right  place,  it  fails  to 
express   fully  the  thought  or  the  emotion. 

Vocal  training  a  prerequisite.  Properly  placed  vocal 
emphasis  is  indispensable  in  public  speaking.  However, 
the  mere  location  of  emphasis  upon  the  right  word  or 
words  is  not  altogether  adequate.  We  have  stressed  the 
fact  that  accurate  thinking  is  the  prime  essential  of  cor- 
rect vocal  emphasis,  and  have  suggested  that  whenever 
that  condition  is  present  the  voice  tends  to  express  what 
the  mind  has  conceived.  We  know,  however,  that  the 
extent  to  which  our  voices  are  capable  of  expressing  our 
thoughts  is  dependent,  in  no  small  measure,  upon  the 
degree  of  their  responsiveness.  Some  voices,  as  we  know, 
are  wonderfully  responsive,  while  others  are  very  unrespon- 
sive, and  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  responsive  voice 
will  accomplish  the  act  of  vocal  emphasis  more  success- 
fully than  the  unresponsive  one.  An  entirely  untrained 
voice  is  capable  of  employing  emphasis  in  no  uncertain 
manner,  but  it  is  not  likely  to  do  it  as  pleasingly  and  as 
effectively  as  the  trained  voice. 

Many  people's  voices  are  dull,  cold,  and  lifeless.  There 
may  be  no  lack  of  clear  thinking  on  their  part  and  their 
emphasis  may  in  every  instance  be  correctly  placed,  and 
yet  their  voices  respond  so  imperfectly  that  their  attempt 
to  express  what  is  very  clear  in  their  own  minds  is  not 
altogether  satisfactory.  This  makes  necessary  something 
more  than  the  va^x^  placing  of  emphasis.  It  requires  the 
ability  to  use  the  voice  in  such  a  way  upon  any  desired 
part  as  will  express  to  the  minutest  shade  and  color  the 
speaker's  meaning.    Some  people  think  of  emphasis  as 


300  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

accomplished  always  in  the  same  manner  ;  namely,  by  an 
extra  amount  of  vocal  force  upon  the  part  that  is  to  be 
made  prominent.  This  is  a  very  great  mistake.  Emphasis 
is  by  no  means  accomplished  always  in  the  same  way. 
An  added  amount  of  force  is  one  of  the  means  by  which 
words  are  made  prominent,  but  it  is  only  one.  The  voice 
is  capable  of  innumerable  subtle  twists  and  turns,  whereby 
the  most  delicate  shades  of  meaning  may  be  expressed. 

An  adequate  employment  of  emphasis,  therefore,  im- 
plies not  only  the  application  of  the  voice  in  the  right 
place  but  the  ability  to  use  the  voice  in  such  a  way  that 
the  part  or  parts  attacked  shall  be  given  just  the  right 
turn  to  express  adequately  all  that  the  mind  intends. 
This  makes  necessary  two  essentials : 

1.  Such  a  training  of  the  voice  in  the  elements  of 
pitch,  time,  quality,  and  force  as  will  enable  it  to  respond 
in  the  most  effective  way  to  the  promptings  of  the  mind. 

2.  The  mind  kept  sufficiently  alert  and  wide-awake 
during  every  moment  of  utterance  to  grasp  the  thought 
fully  in  all  its  relations. 

Consistent  use  of  these  two  essentials  will  accomplish 
all  that  is  to  be  desired  in  expression  through  the  medium 
of  vocal  emphasis.  The  first  is  naturally  a  prerequisite 
of  the  second.  The  second  may  be  fully  present,  so  that 
the  mind  has  a  complete  grasp  of  the  meaning  and 
prompts  in  exactly  the  way  that  it  should,  yet  if  the  first 
is  lacking  —  that  is,  if  the  voice  is  not  capable  of  express- 
ing through  pitch,  time,  quality,  or  force  what  the  mind 
calls  upon  it  to  express  —  the  result  is  unsatisfactory. 
Skill  in  the  use  of  these  four  vocal  elements  is,  therefore, 
altogether  desirable. 


EMPHASIS  301 

In  the  cultivation  of  any  art  we  gain  skill  by  doing. 
And  nowhere  is  this  more  true  than  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  voice.  If  a  person's  voice  is  flat  and  notably  lacking 
in  agility,  it  needs  training  in  pitch.  If  it  is  incapable  of 
expressing  quantity  values,  it  needs  training  in  time.  If 
it  is  dull  and  colorless,  expression  through  quality  is  the 
remedy.  And  if  it  has  no  power  whereby  it  is  capable  of 
dynamic  action  when  that  is  the  thing  most  needed,  it 
requires  cultivation  through  the  principles  of  force. 

These  things,  as  we  know,  are  essential  to  effective 
expression,  but  they  can  never  be  of  much  value  until 
they  have  been  used  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to 
enable  them  to  become  vocal  habits.  By  this  I  do  not 
mean  that  in  order  to  become  skilled  in  the  use  of  pitch 
we  must  fix  attention  upon  the  intricacies  of  inflection,  or 
that  in  order  to  make  quality  a  useful  instrument  we  need 
to  go  into  details  of  pectorals,  gutturals,  and  aspirates.  I 
mean  simply  that  if  the  voice  is  flat  and  accustomed  to 
travel  only  on  a  dead  level,  it  should  be  rendered  agile 
in  the  manner  suggested  in  Chapter  VIII ;  that  if  it  is 
dull  and  colorless,  it  should  be  cultivated  according  to  the 
suggestions  in  Chapter  X  ;  and  that  this  kind  of  practice 
must  be  kept  up  for  a  length  of  time  sufficient  to  make 
vocal  agility  and  vocal  color  natural  habits,  so  that  there 
will  be  neither  conscious  thought  nor  conscious  effort  in 
their  use. 

Clearly,  then,  vocal  responsiveness  should  be  sought  as 
a  prerequisite  to  vocal  emphasis.  This  has  been  the  object 
of  our  study  throughout  the  preceding  four  chapters.  And 
it  is  presumed  that  before  the  student  has  reached  this 
point  he  has  discovered  his  individual  needs  and  has  done 


302  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

his  best  to  meet  them.  If  he  has  gained  a  sufficient  mas- 
tery of  the  principles  presented  in  these  chapters  to  have 
made  his  voice  a  genuinely  responsive  instrument,  that  will 
do  for  him  just  what  he  may  desire  of  it  in  every  circum- 
stance, the  matter  of  emphasis,  which  seems  so  formi- 
dable to  many  speakers,  will  cause  him  little  difficulty. 
The  speaker  who  knows  from  repeated  experience  that 
his  voice  will  respond  always  in  exactly  the  way  that  it 
should,  has  only  to  give  attention  to  the  second  essential 
—  that  of  keeping  the  mind  thoroughly  awake  —  and 
emphasis  will  take  care  of  itself. 

In  order  to  make  clear  how  important  a  prerequisite 
vocal  responsiveness  is,  let  us  consider  some  of  the  ways 
in  which  emphasis  may  be  gained  by  the  employment  of 
the  four  vocal  elements. 

Emphasis  by  Means  of  Pitch 

1.  Emphasis  by  lifting  the  voice  to  a  higher  key. 

Then  the  third  night  after  this, 
While  Enoch  slumber'd  motionless  and  pale, 
And  Miriam  watch'd  and  dozed  at  intervals, 
There  came  so  loud  a  calling  of  the  sea, 
That  all  the  houses  in  the  haven  rang. 
He  woke,  he  rose,  he  spread  his  arms  abroad 
Crying  with  a  loud  voice  "  A  sail !  a  sail! 
I  am  saved. ^^ 

2.  Emphasis  by  dropping  the  voice  to  a  lower  key. 

"  Enoch,  poor  man,  was  cast  away  and  lost," 
He,  shaking  his  gray  head  pathetically, 
Repeated  muttering  "  cast  away  and  lost "  ; 
Again  in  deeper  inward  whispers,"  lost\  " 


EMPHASIS  303 

3.  Emphasis  by  marked  vocal  inflections. 

Dead'^  clamour'd  the  good  woman,  "  hear  him  talk  !  " 

Swear^^^  added  Enoch  sternly,  "  on  the  book." 


'  Did  you  know  Enoch  Arden  of  this  town  "i " 
'  Know  him  .?  "  she  said. 


'  You  Arden,  you  !  nay,  —  sure  he  was  a  foot 
Higher  than  you  be." 

Emphasis  by  Means  of  Time 

1.  Emphasis  by  prolonging  words. 

But  what  he  fain  had  seen 
He  could  not  see,  the  kindly  human  face^ 
Nor  ever  hear  a  kindly  voice,  but  heard 
The  myriad  shriek  of  wheeling  ocean-fowl, 
The  league-long  roller  thundering  on  the  reef, 

As  down  the  shore  he  ranged,  or  all  day  long   . 
Sat  often  in  the  seaward-gazing  gorge, 
A  ship-wreck 'd  sailor,  waiting  for  a  sail. 

2.  Emphasis  by  pausing  before  a  word. 

In  those  two  deaths  he  read  God's  warning  "  wait" 

3.  Emphasis  by  pausing  after  a  word. 

A  month  —  give  her  a  month  ...  a  mo?ith  —  no  more. 

4.  Emphasis  by  pausing  before  and  after  a  word. 
But  homeward  —  home  —  what  home  ?  had  he  a  home  ? 


304  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

5.  Emphasis  by  speaking  at  a  very  slow  rate. 

All  down  the  long  and  narrow  street  he  went 
Beating  it  in  upon  his  weary  brain, 
As  tho'  it  were  the  burthen  of  a  song, 
"  Not  to  tell  her,  never  to  let  her  know.''^ 

Emphasis  by  Means  of  Quality 

I.  Emphasis  by  changing  the  quality  of  the  voice. 

Then  Annie  with  her  brows  against  the  wall 
Answer 'd,  "  I  cannot  look  you  in  the  face ; 
I  seem  so  foolish  and  so  broken  down. 
When  you  came  in  my  sorrow  broke  me  down ; 
And  now  I  think  your  kindness  breaks  me  down ; 
But  Enoch  lives ;  that  is  borne  in  on  me : 
He  will  repay  you  :  money  can  be  repaid ; 
Not  kindness  such  as  yours." 

Emphasis  by  Means  of  Force 

I.  Emphasis  by  added  force  of  the  voice. 

When,  if  they  quarrell'd,  Enoch  stronger-made 
Was  master :  then  would  Philip,  his  blue  eyes 
All  flooded  with  the  helpless  wrath  of  tears, 
Shriek  out,  "  I  hate  you,  Enoch. ^^ 

In  using  the  foregoing  illustrations  from  Tennyson's 
"  Enoch  Arden "  I  have  assumed  that  most  students 
are  familiar  with  the  poem  and  are  sufficiently  conversant 
with  the  context  to  understand  the  application  made  in 
each  instance.  The  cases  cited  serve  to  show  some  of 
the  ways  by  which  emphasis  is  secured  through  pitch, 
time,  quality,  and  force.  They  are  not  intended  to  sug- 
gest the  only  means  by  which  emphasis  may  be  secured ; 


EMPHASIS  305 

neither  are  they  given  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  to 
the  student  a  mode  of  applying  emphasis  whereby  he  will 
say,  '*  This  word  needs  to  be  emphasized,  therefore  I  will 
pause  before  it  or  will  change  the  quality  of  my  voice  or 
use  a  marked  vocal  inflection."  They  are  cited  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  how  important  a  prerequisite  vocal 
training  is  for  the  correct  use  of  vocal  emphasis. 

The  lines  quoted  above  under  the  head  of  "  Emphasis 
by  Means  of  Quality  "  show  the  necessity  for  complete 
vocal  responsiveness.  In  the  conversation  between  Philip 
and  Annie,  where  she  refers  to  her  sorrow  and  his  kind- 
ness and  to  the  fact  that  money  can  be  repaid  but  not 
kindness  such  as  his,  it  would  be  quite  possible  to  have 
the  emphasis  located  upon  the  right  words  and  yet  for  the 
voice  to  respond  so  imperfectly  as  to  convey  a  meaning 
very  different  from  what  the  passage  warrants.  Particularly 
noticeable  is  this  in  the  words  of  Miriam  Lane, 

You  Arden,  you  !  nay,  —  sure  he  was  a  foot 
Higher  than  you  be. 

What  is  true  of  these  very  marked  cases  of  vocal  empha- 
sis is  true  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  all  emphasis 
whatsoever. 

The  four  vocal  elements,  therefore,  may  be  regarded 
by  the  student  as  the  tools  by  which  he  is  enabled  to 
accomplish  the  very  important  work  of  emphasis.  If  these 
tools  are  rendered  serviceable  and  adequate  to  his  needs, 
the  difficult  problems  of  expression  through  the  medium 
of  the  voice  will  be  simplified  a  hundredfold  and  his 
task  reduced  to  the  single  necessity  of  keeping  the  mind 
thoroughly  and  constantly  awake. 


306  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

PRACTICAL  EXERCISES  IN  EMPHASIS 

Exercise  I.  Express  the  thought  or  emotion  contained 
in  each  passage  quoted  from  ''  Enoch  Arden  "  under  the 
heads  of  emphasis  by  means  of  pitch,  time,  quahty,  and 
force.  Give  no  attention  to  what  words  are  to  be  made 
prominent.  Center  the  mind  entirely  upon  the  thought 
contained  in  each.  If  the  hnes  are  not  so  famihar  that  you 
know  the  context,  refer  to  the  text  of  the  poem.  First 
study  the  Hnes  very  carefully  by  considering  their  relation 
to  other  parts  of  the  poem  ;  then  try  to  express  accurately 
the  thought  and  feeling  which  they  contain.  The  exer- 
cise presupposes  sufficient  practice  in  the  use  of  the  vocal 
principles  presented  in  the  last  four  chapters  to  render 
the  voice  reasonably  responsive. 

Exercise  II.  Read  with  very  careful  discrimination 
the  lines  that  follow.  Assimilate  fully  the  thought  con- 
tained in  each  quotation  and  try  to  express  it  accurately. 
If  the  context  is  not  familiar  in  i  and  2,  refer  to  the 
text  of  "Julius  Caesar"  and  of  ''Macbeth"  before  at- 
tempting the  exercise. 

I.  From  "Julius  Caesar": 

Act  IV,  Scene  III 

Cassius.    I  said,  an  elder  soldier,  not  a  better : 
Did  I  say  "  better  "  .? 

Brutus.  I  did  send 

To  you  for  gold  to  pay  my  legions. 
Which  you  denied  me :  was  that  done  like  Cassius  ? 
Should  I  have  answer'd  Caius  Cassius  so  .'* 
When  Marcus  Brutus  grows  so  covetous, 
To  lock  such  rascal  counters  from  his  friends, 
Be  ready,  gods,  with  all  your  thunderbolts ; 
Dash  him  to  pieces  ! 


EMPHASIS  307 

Act  I,  Scene  I 

Marullus.    You  blocks,  you  stones,  you  worse  than 
senseless  things! 

0  you  hard  hearts,  you  cruel  men  of  Rome, 
Knew  you  not  Pompey  ?  Many  a  time  and  oft 
Have  you  climb'd  up  to  walls  and  battlements, 
To  towers  and  windows,  yea,  to  chimney-tops. 
Your  infants  in  your  arms,  and  there  have  sat 
The  live-long  day,  with  patient  expectation. 

To  see  great  Pompey  pass  the  streets  of  Rome. 

Be  gone ! 

Run  to  your  houses,  fall  upon  your  knees, 
Pray  to  the  gods  to  intermit  the  plague 
That  needs  must  light  on  this  ingratitude. 

Act  II,  Scene  I 

Brutus.    It  must  be  by  his  death  :  and  for  my  part, 

1  know  no  personal  cause  to  spurn  at  him, 
But  for  the  general.    He  would  be  crown'd : 

How  that  might  change  his  nature,  there  's  the  question : 
It  is  the  bright  day  that  brings  forth  the  adder ; 
And  that  craves  wary  walking. 

.  .  .  And,  gentle  friends, 
Let 's  kill  him  boldly,  but  not  wrathfully ; 
Let 's  carve  him  as  a  dish  fit  for  the  gods, 
Not  hew  him  as  a  carcass  fit  for  hounds. 

This  shall  make 
Our  purpose  necessary  and  not  envious  : 
Which  so  appearing  to  the  common  eyes, 
We  shall  be  call'd  purgers,  not  murderers. 


3o8  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

2.  From  ''  Macbeth  "  : 

Act  I,  Scene  VII 

Macbeth.    If  it  were  done  when  'tis  done,  then  'twere 
well 
It  were  done  quickly. 


Macbeth.  Prithee,  peace : 

I  dare  do  all  that  may  become  a  man ; 
Who  dares  do  more  is  none. 

Lady  Macbeth.  What  beast  was  't,  then, 

That  made  you  break  this  enterprise  to  me } 
When  you  durst  do  it,  then  you  were  a  man ; 
And,  to  be  more  than  what  you  were,  you  would 
Be  so  much  more  the  man. 

Macbeth.  If  we  should  fail  ? 

Lady  Macbeth.  We  fail ! 

But  screw  your  courage  to  the  sticking-place, 
And  we  '11  not  fail. 

Macbeth.  I  am  settled,  and  bend  up 

Each  corporal  agent  to  this  terrible  feat. 
Away,  and  mock  the  time  with  fairest  show : 
False  face  must  hide  what  the  false  heart  doth  know. 

Act  II,  Scene  II 

Lady  Macbeth.     That  which  hath  made  them  drunk 
hath  made  me  bold ; 
What  hath  quench'd  them  hath  given  me  fire. 

Lady  Macbeth.    Alack,  I  am  afraid  they  have  awaked, 
And  't  is  not  done.    The  attempt  and  not  the  deed 
Confounds  us. 


EMPHASIS  309 

Lady  Macbeth.  Infirm  of  purpose ! 

Give  me  the  daggers  :  the  sleeping  and  the  dead 
Are  but  as  pictures :  't  is  the  eye  of  childhood 
That  fears  a  painted  devil. 

Lady  Macbeth.    My  hands  are  of  your  colour;  but  I 
shame 
To  wear  a  heart  so  white. 

Exercise  III.  Read  with  strict  attention  to  the  thought, 
as  in  Exercise  II,  the  following  passages  from  the  Bible  : 

I.  From  the  book  of  Proverbs. 

Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing ;  therefore  get  wisdom. 
She  is  more  precious  than  rubies : 
And  all  the  things  thou  canst  desire 
Are  not  to  be  compared  unto  her. 

Poverty  and  shame  shall  be  to  him  that  refuseth  instruction  : 
But  he  that  regardeth  reproof  shall  be  honoured. 

The  heart  of  him  that  hath  understanding  seeketh  knowledge : 
But  the  mouth  of  fools  feedeth  on  foolishness. 

The  way  of  a  fool  is  right  in  his  own  eyes : 
But  he  that  hearkeneth  unto  counsel  is  wise. 

Wealth  gotten  by  vanity  shall  be  diminished : 
But  he  that  gathereth  by  labour  shall  increase. 

Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation : 
But  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people. 

Better  is  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is, 
Than  a  stalled  ox  and  hatred  therewith. 

It  is  better  to  dwell  in  a  comer  of  the  housetop, 
Than  with  a  brawling  woman  in  a  wide  house. 


310  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  sluggard  will  not  plough  by  reason  of  the  cold ; 
Therefore  shall  he  beg  in  harvest,  and  have  nothing. 

Iron  sharpeneth  iron ; 

So  a  man  sharpeneth  the  countenance  of  his  friend. 

2.  From  the  book  of  Job : 

But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found  ? 

And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding? 

Man  knoweth  not  the  price  thereof ; 
Neither  is  it  found  in  the  land  of  the  living. 

The  depth  saith,  It  is  not  in  me : 
And  the  sea  saith,  It  is  not  with  me. 

It  cannot  be  gotten  for  gold, 

Neither  shall  silver  be  weighed  for  the  price  thereof. 

It  cannot  be  valued  with  the  gold  of  Ophir, 

With  the  precious  onyx,  or  the  sapphire. 

The  gold  and  the  crystal  cannot  equal  it : 

And  the  exchange  of  it  shall  not  be  for  jewels  of  fine  gold. 

No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral,  or  of  pearls : 

For  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies. 

The  topaz  of  Ethiopia  shall  not  equal  it. 

Neither  shall  it  be  valued  with  pure  gold. 

Exercise  IV.  Read  v^ith  careful  attention,  both  to  the 
thought  and  the  emotion  of  the  speaker,  the  address  of 
Lincoln  at  Gettysburg.  Note  the  subtle  contrasts  through- 
out by  which  the  meaning  is  made  clear. 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth 
on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and 
dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated, 


EMPHASIS  311 

can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that 
war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a 
final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that 
that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper 
that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  —  we  cannot 
consecrate  —  we  cannot  hallow  —  this  ground.  The  brave 
men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated 
it  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world 
will  little  note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it 
can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living, 
rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which 
they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It 
is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  re- 
maining before  us  —  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the 
last  full  measure  of  devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation, 
under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom ;  and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people, 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

Exercise  V.  Read  with  careful  discrimination,  and  with 
very  close  attention  to  each  new  idea  presented,  Hamlet's 
Advice  to  the  Players.  Keep  fully  in  mind  the  context 
and  the  central  idea  of  the  speaker. 

Speak  the  speech,  I  pray  you,  as  I  pronounced  it  to  you, 
trippingly  on  the  tongue :  but  if  you  mouth  it,  as  many  of 
your  players  do,  I  had  as  lief  the  town-crier  spoke  my  lines. 
Nor  do  not  saw  the  air  too  much  with  your  hand,  thus,  but 
use  all  gently;  for  in  the  very  torrent,  tempest,  and,  as  I 
may  say,  the  whirlwind  of  passion,  you  must  acquire  and 
beget  a  temperance  that  may  give  it  smoothness.  O,  it 
offends  me  to  the  soul  to  hear  a  robustious  periwig-pated 


312  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

fellow  tear  a  passion  to  tatters,  to  very  rags,  to  split  the 
ears  of  the  groundlings,  who  for  the  most  part  are  capable 
of  nothing  but  inexplicable  dumb-shows  and  noise :  I  would 
have  such  a  fellow  whipped  for  o'erdoing  Termagant ;  it 
out-herods  Herod :  pray  you,  avoid  it. 

Be  not  too  tame  neither,  but  let  your  own  discretion  be 
your  tutor:  suit  the  action  to  the  word,  the  word  to  the 
action ;  with  this  special  observance,  tlTat  you  o'erstep  not 
the  modesty  of  nature :  for  any  thing  so  overdone  is  from 
the  purpose  of  playing,  whose  end,  both  at  the  first  and 
now,  was  and  is,  to  hold,  as  'twere,  the  mirror  up  to 
nature  ;  to  show  virtue  her  own  feature,  scorn  her  own 
image,  and  the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time  his  form  and 
pressure.  Now  this  overdone,  or  come  tardy  off,  though  it 
make  the  unskilful  laugh,  cannot  but  make  the  judicious 
grieve;  the  censure  of  the  which  one  must  in  your  allow- 
ance o'erweigh  a  whole  theatre  of  others.  O,  there  be 
players  that  I  have  seen  play,  and  heard  others  praise,  and 
that  highly,  not  to  speak  it  profanely,  that,  neither  having 
the  accent  of  Christians  nor  the  gait  of  Christian,  pagan,  nor 
man,  have  so  strutted  and  bellowed  that  I  have  thought 
some  of  nature's  journeymen  had  made  men  and  not  made 
them  well,  they  imitated  humanity  so  abominably. 

And  let  those  that  play  your  clowns  speak  no  more  than 
is  set  down  for  them ;  for  there  be  of  them  that  will  them- 
selves laugh,  to  set  on  some  quantity  of  barren  spectators 
to  laugh  too;  though,  in  the  mean  time,  some  necessary 
question  of  the  play  be  then  to  be  considered :  that 's 
villainous,  and  shows  a  most  pitiful  ambition  in  the  fool 
that  uses  it. 


APPENDIX  I 
SUGGESTIONS  TO  TEACHERS 

To  the  teachers  into  whose  hands  this  book  perchance  may 
fall  I  wish  to  offer  a  few  suggestions  which  I  trust  will  correct 
any  misunderstanding  that  may  arise  in  regard  to  my  purpose 
in  offering  to  schools  and  colleges  a  volume  treating  of  the 
elements  of  public  speaking. 

The  aim  that  I  have  had  in  mind  in  the  preparation  of  this 
work  and  the  need  in  the  field  of  public  speaking  which  it  is 
designed  to  meet  are  fully  set  forth  in  the  Preface.  A  word 
more,  however,  seems  to  me  necessary,  addressed  to  the  teachers 
who  may  make  use  of  the  principles  which  this  book  contains. 
What  I  shall  say  has  to  do  with  two  things : 

First,  the  material  that  goes  to  make  up  this  volume. 

Second,  the  use  that  may  be  made  of  this  material. 

In  regard  to  the  first,  I  should  perhaps  repeat  what  is  made 
very  clear  in  the  Preface ;  namely,  that  this  is  not  a  conven- 
tional book  of  speeches.  Such  books  have  their  place,  and  as 
already  suggested,  I  have  in  preparation  a  book,  "  Practical 
Selections  for  Declamation,"  which  aims  to  meet  the  present 
need  for  a  compilation  of  speeches  that  are  thoroughly  prac- 
tical for  declamatory  purposes.  But  in  the  present  volume 
I  have  carefully  avoided  making  a  book  with  one  per  cent 
of  principles  and  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  illustration.  Twelve 
important  principles  have  been  treated  in  as  many  distinct 
chapters,  the  aim  being  to  give  the  reader  a  clear  and  compre- 
hensive understanding  of  each  principle  treated.  At  the  close 
of    the   discussion    in    each   chapter   (with   the   exception   of 

313 


314  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Chapter  III,  in  which  it  seemed  advisable  to  combine  the  exer- 
cises with  those  of  Chapter  IV)  I  have  placed  exercises  which 
I  have  found  valuable  in  my  own  classes  for  putting  each 
principle  into  practical  use. 

A  glance  at  the  Table  of  Contents  will  show  that  the  chief 
end  of  this  book  is  to  present  the  essentials  of  effective  speech 
delivery  \  that  it  is  not  primarily  a  book  dealing  with  speech 
structure.  It  was  my  original  intention  to  write  a  book  which 
would  deal  entirely  with  the  delivery  side,  but  various  experiments 
with  the  material  proved  that  this  would  not  be  most  practical, 
since  in  order  to  teach  how  anything  is  to  be  said  it  is  first 
necessary  to  have  something  worth  while  to  say.  My  plan, 
therefore,  finally  resolved  itself  into  twelve  chapters,  the  first 
chapter  having  to  do  with  planning  what  to  say,  the  remaining 
eleven  with  how  to  say  it.  At  first  blush  this  plan  might  seem 
very  unwisely  proportioned  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  average 
public  speaker.  But  here  let  me  remind  the  teacher  that  this 
book  makes  no  claim  of  being  a  treatise  upon  speech  struc- 
ture. It  is  intended  solely  to  teach  the  principles  of  practical 
speaking.  Chapter  I  is  devoted  to  planning  the  speech  only 
because  I  have  deemed  a  modicum  of  such  information  desir- 
able as  a  foundation  for  effective  work  in  delivery.  The  aim, 
therefore,  is  to  give  suggestions  in  that  chapter  which  will 
enable  the  speaker  to  arrange  his  ideas  in  a  manner  sufficiently 
clear  and  logical,  so  that  he  will  have  something  worth  while 
to  say ;  and  in  the  remainder  of  the  book  to  set  forth  the 
principles  necessary  to  teach  him  how  to  say  that  something 
effectively. 

More  particularly,  however,  I  desire  to  speak  of  the  use  to 
be  made  of  the  material  that  has  been  employed. 

It  may  seem  that  some  subjects  have  been  treated  too  much 
in  detail.  No  doubt  my  chapter  on  pronunciation  will  be  sub- 
ject to  this  charge,  and  I  wish  my  purpose  in  presenting  this 


APPENDIX  I  315 

material  to  be  perfectly  clear.  The  many  lists  of  words  given 
in  this  chapter  may  seem  to  some  teachers  to  be  carrying  the 
treatment  of  the  subject  a  bit  too  far,  but  here  I  would  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  they  are  not  offered  with  any  thought 
that  the  student  will  attempt  to  learn  them  by  rote.  Such  a 
use  of  them  would  in  many  cases  be  a  waste  of  much  valuable 
time.  They  are  presented,  as  I  have  suggested  in  a  previous 
comment,  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  the  student  with  a  help- 
ful means  of  checking  up  his  own  pronunciation.  In  my  own 
classes  I  have  found  this  device  to  be  very  practicable  and  a 
great  time  saver.  Therefore  these  lists  are  presented  in  the 
hope  that  other  teachers  will  find  them  equally  useful.  If,  how- 
ever, other  means  may  be  used  to  accomplish  the  same  end 
with  equal  success,  well  and  good. 

Likewise  there  should  be  no  misunderstanding  in  regard  to 
the  purpose  of  the  practical  exercises  that  have  been  placed  at 
the  end  of  each  chapter.  There  is  no  attempt  to  set  down 
dogmatically  exercises  for  practice  and  to  say  they  are  the 
means  by  which  a  given  end  is  to  be  attained.  I  have  in  each 
case  given  those  exercises  that  have  been  put  to  a  thorough 
test  in  the  classroom  and  have  been  found  to  bring  the  desired 
results.  I  believe,  however,  that  every  live  teacher  has  his  own 
way  of  doing  things,  and  if  he  is  able  to  agree  with  the  general 
thesis  of  the  discussion  of  each  principle,  it  matters  little  what 
kind  of  exercises  he  uses  as  long  as  he  is  able  to  accomplish 
the  desired  end. 

I  do  not  wish  to  prescribe  any  certain  manner  in  which  the 
material  of  the  book  shall  be  used.  This  will  depend  in  large 
measure  upon  the  desire  of  the  teacher  and  the  needs  of  the 
pupils.  I  think  I  have  made  reasonably  clear  in  each  chapter 
the  methods  that  I  have  found  useful  for  getting  certain  results, 
but  I  would  not  impose  them  upon  other  teachers,  unless  in 
their  judgment  they  are  the  best  methods  for  them. 


3i6  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

There  may  be  some  question  in  regard  to  the  order  in  which 
the  material  has  been  presented.  Some  teachers  may  wonder 
why  Chapter  I  was  not  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  breath  as 
the  foundation  of  all  vocal  processes,  while  others  might  prefer 
a  different  arrangement  of  material.  In  respect  to  this  I  may 
say  that  I  have  presented  it  in  the  order  that  I  have  found  to 
be  most  practical  for  my  own  classes,  but  I  see  no  reason  why 
a  different  order  might  not  be  used  with  equally  good  results. 

In  the  use  of  this  material  one  teacher  may  perhaps  find  it 
most  profitable  to  take  the  conversational  mode  as  the  point 
of  departure ;  another,  the  breath ;  while  perhaps  another  will 
find  it  best  to  begin  with  planning  the  speech  and  follow  each 
chapter  through  in  the  order  in  which  it  is  given. 

I  am  frank  to  say  that  I  do  not  believe  there  is  an  ironclad 
plan  that  must  be  followed  in  order  to  get  results.  As  every 
teacher  of  experience  knows,  very  much  depends  upon  each 
individual  class  with  which  the  work  is  to  be  done.  The  im- 
portant thing  is  that  we  reach  the  desired  goal,  and  so  long  as 
we  do  this  it  is  not  a  matter  of  very  great  consequence  what 
road  we  choose  to  travel. 

Practically  all  the  material  used  has  grown  out  of  actual 
classroom  experience  and  discussion,  and  in  presenting  it  I 
have  departed  somewhat  from  the  conventional  textbook  style 
and  have  discussed  each  principle  in  very  much  the  same  man- 
ner that  I  might  employ  in  my  own  classroom.  I  have  tried  to 
speak  in  a  direct  and  personal  way  that  would  make  the  reader 
feel  the  importance  of  each  principle  for  him.  It  is  my  hope 
that  this  feature  will  add  a  certain  element  of  vitality  to  the 
text  that  will  contribute  much  to  its  power  as  an  instrument 
for  conveying  a  body  of  important  truth  in  regard  to  practical 
public  speaking. 

Moreover,  I  have  sought  to  treat  each  principle  in  plain 
terms  with  the  purpose  of  making  the  material  available  for  all 


APPENDIX  I  317 

classes  of  students ;  and  while  the  book  is  designed  primarily 
to  meet  a  very  important  need  in  college  classes  at  the  present 
time,  I  believe  it  to  be  sufficiently  untechnical  to  make  it  useful 
for  preparatory  schools. 

But  in  whatever  classroom  this  book  may  find  a  place,  if  it 
serves  to  furnish  the  teacher  a  means  of  doing  his  work  with 
more  facility  and  more  effectiveness,  and  affords  the  student  a 
body  of  information  that  will  help  to  rid  him  of  some  of  the 
false  conceptions  of  public  speaking  and  enable  him  to  think  his 
thoughts  clearly  and  to  express  them  adequately  as  he  stands 
before  an  audience,  my  purpose  will  be  accomplished. 


APPENDIX  II 
DECLAMATION 

Although  the  subject  of  declamation  has  no  place  in  a  discus- 
sion of  the  elements  of  public  speaking,  it  has  seemed  advisable 
to  offer  some  suggestions  in  regard  to  it  for  two  reasons : 

First,  because  many  teachers  employ  declamation  in  the 
teaching  of  practical  speaking. 

Second,  because  pupils  are  constantly  seeking  declamations 
for  use  in  speaking  contests. 

Certain  erroneous  notions  in  regard  to  declamation  seem 
to  exist  in  many  schools  in  which  declamatory  contests  are 
held.  In  the  first  place,  we  find  a  distinction  drawn  between 
"declamatory"  and  so-called  "oratorical"  contests;  the  former 
term  applying  to  those  contests  in  which  selections  of  a  more 
or  less  dramatic  nature  are  used,  and  the  latter  to  those  in 
which  orations  serve  as  the  chief  material.  Now  if  we  stop  to 
consider  the  matter  carefully,  we  know  that  there  is  no  warrant 
for  a  distinction  of  this  kind.  An  oration  employed  for  the 
purpose  of  winning  a  prize  in  a  contest  is  as  truly  a  declamation 
as  any  dramatic  piece  that  is  employed  for  the  same  purpose, 
so  there  is  no  reason  why  a  distinction  of  this  kind,  which  has 
no  real  foundation  in  fact,  should  be  drawn.  If  a  piece  is 
declaimed  it  is  a  declamation,  no  matter  whether  it  is  dramatic, 
oratorical,  narrative,  descriptive,  expository,  or  what  not.  Then 
why  not  call  it  what  it  really  is  ? 

But  the  most  objectionable  feature  of  declamatory  work  is 
the  habit  of  choosing  selections  that  are  entirely  unfit  for  pur- 
poses of  declamation.    It  is  a  common  custom  for  schoolboys 

318 


APPENDIX  II  319 

to  choose  for  declamatory  purposes  such  speeches  as  Patrick 
Henry's  "  Call  to  Arms  "  or  Webster's  "  Supposed  Speech  of 
John  Adams  "  —  speeches  that  are  so  foreign  to  the  experience 
or  capabilities  of  a  boy  of  high-school  age  as  to  make  it  highly 
improbable  that  he  will  declaim  them  with  any  sense  of  reality. 
More  than  this,  his  desire  to  find  a  selection  that  will  win  the 
prize  often  leads  him  to  choose  one  of  the  extreme  "  blood-and- 
thunder  "  type  that  has  no  real  significance  for  him,  but  is  mere 
sound  and  fury  and  nothing  more. 

Exactly  the  same  is  true  of  selections  that  are  chosen  for  the 
so-called  "  declamatory  "  contests,  which  are  usually  participated 
in  by  girls.  The  aim  seems  to  be  to  get  a  piece  that  has  the 
most  melodramatic,  bloodcurdling  situations,  the  hair-raising 
kind,  that  lends  itself  to  spectacular  gesticulations  and  excruci- 
ating contortions  of  every  kind.  Who  in  any  community  has 
not  heard  such  renderings  of  "  Bobby  Shaftoe "  and  "  The 
Ride  of  Jennie  McNeal"  ?  Indeed,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the 
programs  given  in  these  contests,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  a 
general  impression  that  these  are  the  only  kind  of  selections 
which  are  of  any  value  for  purposes  of  declamation. 

For  this  situation  teachers  in  many  instances  must  share  the 
blame,  for  it  is  the  teacher  who  by  advice  and  suggestion  has 
much  to  do  in  determining  the  character  of  the  selections  that 
are  used,  if  indeed  he  does  not  choose  them  outright.  It  is 
here  that  the  teacher  has  an  opportunity  to  do  much  good  or  a 
great  deal  of  harm.  Every  conscientious  teacher  who  has  to  do 
with  these  things  should  make  it  his  business  to  know  what  the 
right  kind  of  material  for  declamation  is,  and  should  encourage 
his  pupils  to  use  it. 

In  all  work  in  declamation,  whether  in  contests  or  in  the  class- 
room, success  or  failure  is  dependent  in  no  small  degree  upon 
the  wisdom  exercised  in  the  choice  of  the  right  kind  of  material. 
In  this  choice  two  principles  are  altogether  essential : 


320  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC   SPEAKING 

First,  that  a  selection  be  chosen  which  comes  sufficiently 
within  the  experience  of  the  pupil  to  enable  him  to  declaim  it 
effectively. 

Second,  that  it  be  one  that  is  both  timely  and  vital,  and 
that  is  not  inseparable  from  the  occasion  upon  which  it  was 
delivered. 

With  reference  to  the  first  point,  it  is  no  less  than  astonish- 
ing to  note  the  kind  of  selections  that  schoolboys  attempt  to 
declaim.  I  have  seen  young  lads  in  the  grades  try  to  declaim 
speeches  dealing  with  abstruse  problems  of  taxation  or  trust 
legislation,  when  they  could  not  possibly  have  understood  what 
they  were  talking  about ;  and,  more  ridiculous  still,  a  young  girl 
by  imitative  voice  and  gesture  attempt  to  portray  Shy  lock's 
rantings  against  Antonio.  Such  performances  are  more  than 
farcical ;  they  are  a  positive  injustice  to  well-meaning  young 
people,  who  have  a  very  earnest  desire  to  learn  to  speak  well. 

The  first  requisite  of  a  good  selection  for  declamation  must 
always  be  its  intelligibility  for  the  speaker.  Nothing  is  more 
absurd  than  for  a  young  person  to  attempt  to  declaim  some- 
thing that  is  so  far  beyond  his  age  and  experience  that  he  is 
incapable  of  understanding  and  assimilating  it,  to  say  nothing 
of  interpreting  it  to  others.  Let  the  speaker  by  all  means 
choose  something  that  comes  so  fully  within  the  range  of  his 
own  experience  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  will  at  least 
be  able  to  express  the  meaning  of  it  to  others. 

I  find  that  many  pupils  do  not  have  the  power  of  discrimi- 
nating between  material  which  they  might  be  able  to  use  to 
good  effect  and  that  which  would  be  wholly  unsuited  to  their 
needs.  Here  the  teacher  should  be  able  to  give  them  the  right 
kind  of  advice  and  direction.  He  might  well  point  out  to  them 
that  while  their  knowledge  would  not  be  sufficient  to  enable 
them  to  declaim  speeches  dealing  with  problems  of  politics  or 
finance,  their  information  in  history  and  biography  would  most 


APPENDIX  II  321 

likely  be  such  that  they  could  give  with  much  success  speeches 
treating  of  the  lives  of  great  men.  No  schoolboy  should  be 
unwise  enough  to  choose  for  purposes  of  declamation  speeches 
dealing  with  difficult  problems  of  the  tariff  or  international 
relations,  that  are  far  beyond  his  years,  when  he  might  use  a 
speech  dealing  with  the  life  of  some  great  national  figure  or 
with  some  problem  in  which  he  was  very  much  interested,  and 
vdth  the  facts  about  which  he  was  thoroughly  conversant. 

In  the  second  place,  a  selection  for  declamation  should  be 
both  timely  and  vital.  Many  speeches,  the  greatness  of  which 
no  one  will  question,  are  not  the  best  for  purposes  of  declama- 
tion because  they  are  so  inseparably  linked  with  the  occasion 
upon  which  they  were  delivered.  I  do  not  say  that  such 
speeches  cannot  be  used,  but  that  under  ordinary  circumstances 
they  are  not  the  best.  Many  speeches  which  are  unquestion- 
ably great  oratory,  and  which  deal  with  problems  that  were 
burning  issues  at  the  time  when  they  were  delivered,  do  not 
hold  the  same  interest  for  people  to-day.  Many  of  the  great 
speeches  pertaining  to  the  question  of  American  slavery  were 
of  this  kind,  and  not  a  few  of  more  recent  time.  William 
Jennings  Bryan's  ''  Cross  of  Gold,"  which  gave  him  instant 
fame  and  won  for  him  the  nomination  for  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States,  was  unquestionably  a  great  speech,  but  few 
people  to-day  would  be  interested  in  a  discussion  of  the  relative 
merits  of  free  silver  and  the  gold  standard. 

A  little  browsing  among  speeches  will  reveal  the  fact  that 
there  is  an  abundance  of  speech  material  that  is  just  as  vital  at 
the  present  time  as  it  was  at  the  hour  when  it  was  delivered. 
The  following  are  good  illustrations  of  speeches  of  this  kind : 

1.  "  Robert  E.  Lee,"  delivered  by  John  W.  Daniel  at  Wash- 
ington and  Lee  University,  Lexington,  Virginia,  in  1883. 

2.  "  The  Secret  of  Lincoln's  Power,"  delivered  by  Henry 
Watterson  at  Chicago  in  1895. 


322  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

3.  "  The  Minuteman  of  the  Revolution,"  delivered  by  George 
William  Curtis  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  Concord 
Fight,  Concord,  Massachusetts,  in  1876. 

4.  "  The  Man  who  wears  the  Button,"  delivered  by  John  M. 
Thurston  at  Detroit,  Michigan,  in  1890. 

These  speeches,  although  perfectly  adapted  to  the  occasions 
upon  which  they  were  delivered,  are  not  so  inseparably  linked 
with  the  time  and  circumstance  as  to  render  them  unsuited  for 
utterance  elsewhere.  Such  speeches  are  as  appropriate  to-day 
as  they  were  in  1876  or  in  1895,  and  will  continue  to  be  appro- 
priate as  long  as  men  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Lincoln  and 
Lee  and  to  the  soldiers  of  the  American  Revolution  and  of  the 
Civil  War.  There  is  a  wealth  of  material  of  this  kind  available 
if  only  the  student  knows  how  to  go  about  finding  it. 

The  important  thing  for  the  student  to  keep  in  mind  is  the 
fact  that  his  declamation  should  be  one  which  is  vital  both  to 
himself  and  to  the  people  to  whom  it  is  to  be  addressed.  One 
can  readily  see  that  in  most  circumstances  this  would  be  true 
of  the  four  speeches  just  cited.  Who  is  not  interested  in  a 
scholarly  appreciation  of  the  life  and  services  of  a  great  national 
figure  as  expressed  in  Watterson's  "  The  Secret  of  Lincoln's 
Power  "  or  in  Daniel's  "  Robert  E.  Lee  "  }  Or  what  audience 
familiar  with  American  history  would  not  listen  with  keen 
interest  to  William  Wirt's  masterful  delineation  of  the  character 
of  Aaron  Burr  or  to  such  speeches  as  Curtis's  "  The  Minute- 
man  of  the  Revolution  "  or  Thurston's  "  The  Man  who  wears 
the  Button  "  ?  These  are  the  kind  of  speeches  that  make  a 
universal  appeal,  because  they  possess  those  elements  of  human 
interest  that  make  them  vital  at  all  times.  On  the  other  hand, 
how  many  red-blooded  Americans  would  care  to  hear  a  school- 
boy reproduce  a  speech  dealing  with  an  issue  that  was  dead  a 
century  ago  ? 

Very  similar  problems  exist  for  those  who  choose  for  pur- 
poses of  declamation  selections  that  are  not  of  an  oratorical 


APPENDIX  II  323 

nature.  Who  cares  if  some  callow  youth  is  determined  that 
"  curfew  shall  not  ring  to-night "  ?  It  is  just  as  important  in 
the  interpretation  of  other  forms  of  literature  to  choose  some- 
thing that  is  timely  and  thoroughly  vital  as  it  is  in  the  use  of 
orations  for  purposes  of  declamation.  Few  declaimers  have 
had  sufficiently  wise  guidance  to  avoid  the  "Bobby  Shaftoe" 
type  of  literature.  Indeed,  how  many  have  ever  thought  of 
declaiming  selections  such  as  IngersoU's  "  Music  the  Noblest 
of  the  Arts  "  ?  Nothing  could  be  more  appropriate  for  declama- 
tion. This  selection  from  Ingersoll  is  a  masterful  appreciation 
of  music  as  a  fine  art  that  is  just  as  vital  to-day  as  it  was 
when  spoken  by  Ingersoll  before  a  New  York  musical  organi- 
zation many  years  ago.  "  The  Artist's  Secret,"  by  Olive 
Schreiner,  is  a  gem  of  allegorical  prose  that  is  equally  suited  to 
this  purpose ;  and  the  writings  of  Henry  van  Dyke  abound  in 
choice  things  of  this  kind  that  are  real  literature  and  that  fur- 
nish the  student  with  something  that  is  well  worthy  of  the  time 
and  energy  that  he  will  spend  upon  it. 

Moreover,  selections  of  this  kind  have  more  than  the  mere 
advantage  of  being  standard  literature.  They  have  the  very 
great  advantage  of  being  a  form  of  literature  that  the  boy  or 
girl  is  capable  of  handling.  I  have  mentioned  the  common 
tendency  of  pupils  to  select  pieces  of  a  highly  dramatic  nature. 
I  suppose  it  never  occurs  to  them  that  to  interpret  this  kind 
of  literature  successfully  requires  a  great  deal  of  skill.  Usually 
it  is  the  kind  of  literature  that  lends  itself  to  impersonation. 
Now  we  know  that  the  pupil  of  high-school  age  or  the  begin- 
ning college  speaker,  unless  he  has  had  some  unusual  training, 
is  utterly  incapable  of  doing  effective  work  in  personation,  and 
he  should  not  attempt  it.  Literature  such  as  I  have  mentioned 
from  Ingersoll  or  Van  Dyke  requires  no  personation  and  no 
particular  dramatic  skill.  It  presents  a  great  theme  in  a  style 
so  simple  that  almost  any  speaker  should  be  able  to  handle  it 
successfully. 


324  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

Let  the  schoolboy,  therefore,  forget  about  "  Spartacus  to  the 
Gladiators  "  and  choose  something  that  does  not  imply  a  mere 
sounding  of  hollow  phrases,  but  that  has  some  real  significance 
for  him  and  that  he  will  be  able  to  render  significant  to 
others.  And  let  the  schoolgirl,  if  she  thinks  it  best  to  use 
literature  other  than  that  of  an  oratorical  nature,  be  at  least 
considerate  enough  of  her  hearers  to  omit  ''  Bobby  Shaftoe  " 
and  to  choose  something  that  will  merit  the  honest  effort  that 
she  will  put  forth. 

So  much  for  the  importance  of  wisdom  in  selecting  material 
for  purposes  of .  declamation.  The  nejft  step  —  determining 
how  this  material,  when  wisely  selected,  can  be  rendered  effec- 
tive —  presents  a  problem  altogether  too  difficult  to  be  treated 
adequately  in  the  space  that  is  possible  to  devote  to  it  here. 

Briefly,  declamation  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  things  in  the 
realm  of  public  speaking.  In  some  respects  it  is  far  more  diffi- 
cult than  original  speaking.  This  is  particularly  true  in  that  it 
constitutes  the  reproduction  of  the  thoughts  and  experiences  of 
others  in  a  manner  that  will  render  them  sufficiently  vivid  to 
make  an  impression  comparable  to  that  which  was  made  when 
the  words  were  first  spoken.  The  way  in  which  this  may  be 
accomplished  successfully  would  require  many  pages  or  even 
chapters  to  relate.  It  is  impossible  to  do  more  here  than 
merely  suggest. 

•  I  take  the  liberty  of  quoting  from  an  article,  "  Effective  Decla- 
mation," ^  by  Professor  Richard  D.  T.  Hollister  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  the  following  statement  of  the  essentials  of  effective 
declamation : 

Declamation  is  an  art.  It  is  an  interpretative  art.  Like  acting  and 
music  and  the  oral  interpretation  of  poetry  it  is  re-creative.  It  seeks 
to  reproduce  in  the  speaker  an  appreciation  of  the  thoughts  and 

1  Public  Speaking  Review,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  3,  p.  15.  I  would  recommend 
this  excellent  article  to  students  and  teachers  who  are  especially  in- 
terested in  declamatory  work. 


APPENDIX  II  325 

feelings  of  another  speaker  in  order  that  he  may  express  them  to 
others.  Its  aim  is  not  a  phonographic  reproduction  of  words,  but  a 
revitalization  of  the  whole  experience  which  once  struggled  for 
expression  in  another. 

If  great  thoughts  and  feelings  were  necessary  to  stir  the  original 
speaker  when  he  delivered  or  created  his  speech,  then  must  similar 
ideas  and  emotions  be  aroused  before  the  declaimer  can  sympatheti- 
cally interpret  him.-  Declamation  is  therefore  not  merely  a  test  of 
memory,  but  a  test  of  the  creative  powers  necessary  to  effective 
original  speaking. 

Success  or  faijure  in  all  art  depends  on  two  things  :  inspiration  and 
skill.  There  must  be  something  in  the  soul  of  the  artist  which  seeks 
to  express  itself,  and  there  must  be  adequate  means  of  expression. 
Both  are  essential,  each  aids  the  other.  Without  skill  inspiration 
dies,  without  inspiration  skill  is  cold  and  lifeless.  The  painter  may 
look  upon  a  landscape  and  feel  in  its  forms  and  colors  a  magic 
beauty  or  a  hidden  truth,  but  without  the  power  to  stretch  the 
canvas,  mix  the  pigments,  and  direct  the  brush,  his  art  remains  the 
unborn  child  of  his  experience.  A  student  may  look  upon  life  and 
see  facts  which  need  to  be  emphasized,  truths  which  need  to  be 
taught,  wrongs'  which  ought  to  be  stopped ;  but  without  skill  in  the 
control  of  the  voice  and  the  body,  high  art  in  speaking  is  impossible. 
Consequently  since  declamation  is  an  art,  success  in  it  depends  on 
inspiration  and  skill,  and  the  problem  of  making  declamation  effec- 
tive is  the  problem  of  getting  the  student  (i)  to  appreciate  the 
thought  and  spirit  of  the  selection,  (2)  to  memorize  it  perfectly,  and 
(3)  to  deliver  it  well. 

In  regard  to  the  three  essentials  that  are  here  set  forth,  the 
third  has  been  the  subject  of  discussion  of  most  of  the  principal 
chapters  of  this  book  and  needs  no  elaboration ;  the  first  does 
not  usually  cause  the  student  much  difficulty  if  he  takes  the 
pains  to  inform  himself  thoroughly  of  the  circumstances  relating 
to  the  selection  ;  but  the  second  is  a  veritable  thorn  in  the  flesh 
to  most  people.  The  drudgery  of  committing  the  selections  to 
memory  —  there  's  the  rub  !  Many  students  would  enjoy  decla- 
mation as  a  pleasant  exercise  in  learning  to  speak  were  it  not 


326  ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

for  the  laborious  work  of  committing  selections  to  memory, 
which  usually  amounts  to  nothing  less  than  drudgery.  But  the 
only  reason  why  it  is  drudgery  to  most  people  is  because  they 
do  not  know  how  to  commit.  To  be  sure,  some  people  commit 
only  with  great  difficulty,  while  others  do  so  with  ease,  but  there 
is  no  reason  why  all  should  not  commit  with  a  reasonable 
degree  of  facility  if  they  know  how  to  go  about  it. 

The  old  method  of  committing  a  selection  by  repeating  a  line 
or  phrase  over  and  over  again  until  it  is  worn  threadbare  makes 
declamation  an  onerous  task,  indeed,  but  there  is  no  reason 
why  this  timeworn  method  should  be  *  followed  at  present. 
Committing  after  the  manner  suggested  by  the  most  advanced 
psychology  renders  the  undertaking  no  longer  a  burden  but  a 
very  pleasant  way  of  placing  at  one's  command  a  large  amount 
of  material  which,  under  many  circumstances,  is  of  great  value. 

Professor  J.  S.  Gaylord  in  an  article,  "  Preparing  Literary 
Material  for  Public  Utterance,"  ^  sets  forth  the  latest  psycho- 
logical method  of  committing  to  memory  the  words  of  another. 
The  important  steps  follow : 

1.  Orient  yourself  with  reference  to  the  author  and  the 
selection. 

2.  Read  the  selection  through  rapidly  from  beginning  to 
end,  in  order  to  get  a  series  of  general  impressions. 

3.  Let  your  mind  and  body  be  quiet  for  a  few  moments. 

4.  Recall  quietly  some  of  the  impressions  received  during 
the  first  reading. 

5.  Read  the  selection  through  again  from  beginning  to  end, 
seeking  strong  feelings  and  vivid  pictures. 

6.  Remain  quiet  again. 

7.  Recall  these  feelings  and  pictures,  using  vital  bodily 
responses. 

8.  Read  again,  seeking  thought-connections  and  deeper 
meanings. 

1  The  Quarterly  Journal  of  Public  Speaking,  Vol.  I,  No.  i,  p.  38. 


APPENDIX  II  327 

9.  Rest  quietly  as  before. 

10.  Think  these  deeper  meanings  out  into  expressive  ges- 
tures, tones,  and  words. 

11.  Continue  rereading,  resting,  recalling,  and  expressing 
until  the  pictures  are  well  filled  out,  the  feelings  intense,  the 
thoughts  clear,  the  meanings  deep,  and  the  utterance  tends  to 
use  the  words  of  the  author,  or  until  the  words  of  the  author 
can  be  quoted  if  your  purpose  demands  that  the  language  of 
the  author  be  used. 

The  important  steps,  then,  in  effective  declamation  are  as 
follows : 

First,  choosing  material  suitable  for  purposes  of  declamation 
according  to  suggestions  made  early  in  this  discussion. 

Second,  committing  it  by  methods  suggested  by  modern 
psychology.  , 

Third,  delivering  it  according  to  the  best  standards  of  effec- 
tive speaking. 

It  will  be  noted  that  throughout  this  discussion  I  have  consid- 
ered declamation  principally  as  it  is  employed  for  contest  work. 
I  have  done  this  because  it  is  in  declamatory  contests  that  some 
of  the  worst  outrages  are  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  public 
speaking.  All  that  I  have  suggested  in  regard  to  the  choice  of 
selections  or  of  the  means  of  rendering  them  effective  applies  with 
equal  force  to  declamation  as  used  in  public-speaking  courses. 

I  should,  perhaps,  add  that  my  only  reason  for  considering 
this  subject  at  all  in  a  book  treating  of  the  elements  of  public 
speaking  is  that  declamation  holds  an  important  place  in  many 
schools  at  the  present  time,  and  its  use  and  abuse  have  no  small 
influence  upon  work  in  practical  speaking. 

If,  perchance,  this  discussion  shall  fall  into  the  hands  of  some 
young  people  who  are  vitally  interested  in  the  problems  of 
effective  declamation,  and  shall  help  in  any  measure  to  give 
them  the  right  perspective  in  regard  to  declamatory  work,  I 
shall  be  very  glad. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  94 

Abdominal  breathing,  117 

Accent,  as  affecting  pronuncia- 
tion, 150;  recessive  character  of 
English,  167;  rhythmic  charac- 
ter of  English,  167;  even,  169; 
variable,  170 

Acoustic  conditions  as  affecting 
speech,  270,  272 

Action  as  a  speech  end,  10 

Action  in  delivery,  57  ;  foundation 
of,  58 ;  misconceptions  of,  59 ; 
effect  and  cause  in,  62  ;  as  an 
aid,  not  an  end,  63  ;  for  display, 
64 ;  final  test  of,  64 ;  value  of 
training  in,  65 ;  practical  exer- 
cises in,  103 

"  Ah  "  and  "  uh  "  habit,  cause  of, 
227  ;  remedy  for,  228 

American  pronunciation  versus 
English,   148 

American  voice,  the,  191' 

Analysis  of  the  speech  subject, 
1 2 ;  importance  of  writing  in, 
12 

Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
president  of,  98 

As  You  Like  It,  240 

Authorities,  discrimination  in,  17 

Bashford,  James,  52 
Basis  of  vocal  quality,  the  psycho- 
logical, 250 
Belief  as  a  speech  end,  10 
Bell,  Alexander  Melville,  136 
Bells,   Tlie,  by  Edgar  Allan  Poe, 

210,  211 
Ben  Ilur,  by  Lew  Wallace,  226 
Bible,  vocal  interpretation  of,  256, 

.309.  310 
Biographical  speech  topics,  36 


Blanton,  Smiley,  249,  250 
Breathing,     discussion    of,     no; 
function  of  ribs  and  muscles  in, 
112;  function  of  lungs  in,  113; 
clavicular,     114;     costal,     116; 
abdominal,  117;  for  voice  pro- 
duction,   117;    proper    control 
of,  119;  a  scientific  experiment 
in,  120 
Browning,  Robert,  242 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  241 
Burns,  Robert,  210 

Campus  topics,  33 

Cause  and  effect  in  action,  62 

Central  theme  of  a  speech,  14 

Chatham,  Lord,  275,  276,  292 

Clavicular  breathing,  114 

Clear  speaking,  commercial  im- 
portance of,  138 

Clearness,  as  a  speech  end,  10 ; 
in  the  speech  plan,  19 

Colloquial  and  conversational 
delivery,  46 

Communication  through  gesture, 
96 

Compass  of  the  voice,  189 

Complemental  and  tidal  air,  1 18 

Comprehensiveness  in  the  speech 
plan,  21 

Conciseness  in  the  speech  plan, 
22 

Conclusion,  function  of,  in  outline- 
making,  23 

Confidential  tone,  value  of,  in 
establishing  a  key,  192 

Consonants  as  affecting  pronun- 
ciation, 150 

Conventional  pulpit  oratory,  39 

Conversational,  the,  in  delivery, 
43'  46 


329 


330 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


Conversational  mode,  37 ;   limits 

of,  47 
Costal  breathing,  116 
Crosby,  Fanny,  247 
Current  speech  topics,  35 
Curry,  S.  S.,  200,  252 

Declamation,  318;  practical  selec- 
tions for,  313 

Declaration  of  Independence,  the, 
speech  on,  by  Lincoln,  27 

Delivery,  preparing  outline  for,  25; 
misconceptions  of  speech,  38 ; 
foundation  of,  42  ;  the  conversa- 
tional in,  43 ;  the  recited  form  of, 
47  ;  the  ministerial  form  of,  47 ; 
the  grandiloquent  form  of,  47 

Discussion,  value  of,  in  speech 
preparation,  18 ;  as  a  division 
of  the  speech  outline,  23  ;  topics 
for,  33 

Economic  speech  topics,  34 
Elocution,  rules  of  formal,  251 
Eloquence,    oration    by    Webster, 

243 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  37 

Emotions  as  affecting  the  body, 
249 

Emphasis,  function  of,  285  ;  deter- 
mining factor  of,  286;  not  a 
mechanical  principle,  287  ;  care- 
less, 289 ;  as  applied  to  new  and 
repeated  ideas,  291  ;  as  expres- 
sive of  contrast,  293 ;  as  deter- 
mined by  context,  294 ;  impor- 
tance of  thought  in,  296 ;  logical 
use  of,  298 ;  vocal  training  as  a 
prerequisite  of,  299 ;  by  means 
of  pitch,  302  ;  by  means  of  time, 
303 ;  by  means  of  quality,  304 ; 
by  means  of  force,  304 

Emphatic  gestures,  96 

Encyclopedic  Dictionary,  176 

Ends  of  a  speech,  9 

English  pronunciation  versus 
American,   148 

Enoch  Arden,  265,  302 

Entertainment  as  a  speech  end, 
II 


Enunciation,  definition  of,  127; 
causes  of  poor,  128;  foundation 
of,  129;  common  faults  of,  132; 
acquiring  good,  135 

Errors  of  pronunciation,  of  vowel 
sounds,  151;  of  consonant 
sounds,  163;  of  accent,  167; 
of  syllabication,  177  ;  in  initial 
syllables,  1 57  ;  in  final  syllables, 

159 
Evils  of  political  oratory,  42 
Exercises,    practical,    in    outline- 
making,  27 ;  for  gaining  the  con- 
versational mode,  53  ;  in  action, 
103  ;  for  gaining  breath  control, 
124  ;  in  enunciation,  139  ;  in  pro- 
nunciation, 180;  in  pitch,  205; 
in  time,  239  ;  in  quality,  263  ;  in 
force,  280 ;  in  emphasis,  306 
Exposition,  topics  for,  33 

False  adjustments  of  the  voice, 
190 

Final  speech  plan,  19 

Flexibility,  vocal,  192,  194 ;  as  a 
vocal  habit,  201  ;  exercises  in, 
207 

Force,  discussion  of,  268 ;  as  re- 
lated to  acoustics,  270 ;  reserve 
power  as  related  to,  273 ;  prac- 
tical experience  with,  274;  as 
an  expressive  element,  275  ;  for 
variety  of  expression,  275;  for 
securing  climax,  278 ;  practical 
exercises  in,  280 ;  as  a  means 
of  emphasis,  304 

Foundations  of  good  delivery,  42 

Fox,  Charles  James,  81 

Freedom  in  action,  79 

Fulton  and  Trueblood's  Practical 
Elocution,  52 

Garcia,  A  Message  to,  by  Elbert 
Hubbard,  55 

Gaylord,  J.  S.,  326 

General  ends  of  public  speech,  9 

Gesture,  should  it  be  taught  ?  65  ; 
discussion  of,  85  ;  what  to  avoid 
in,  86 ;  what  to  seek  in,  87  ;  log- 
ical cultivation  of,  89;  special 


INDEX 


331 


aids  in,  91  ;  expressiveness  of, 
92  ;  reserve  power  in,  92  ;  com- 
munication through,  96;  differ- 
ent uses  of,  96 

Gettysburg  address,  Lincoln's, 
310 

Grady,  Henry  W.,  loi,  109,  193, 
219,  237,  241,  283 

Grandiloquent  form  of  delivery,  47 

Gray,  Thomas,  212 

Great  orators,  36 

Gulick,  Luther,  73 

Hamlet,  217,  225,  240,  311 

Hands,  use  of  the,  78 

Henry,  Patrick,  43,  102,  282,  288 

Herrick,  Robert,  235 

Hiawatha,  260 

Higginson,   Thomas    Wentworth, 

43'  51 
High-school  declaimers,  action  of, 

59 
Hollister,  Richard  D.  T.,  324 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  210 
Homes  of  the  People,   by   H.   W. 

Grady,   193,   194,  219 
Hubbard,  Elbert,  54 

Imitative  gestures,  10 1 

Impressiveness  as  a  speech  end, 
10 

Inflection  of  the  voice,  202  ;  gen- 
eral laws  of,  204 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  109,  214, 
236,  265,  282 

Introduction,  function  of,  in  the 
speech  outline,  23 

Job,  the  book  of,  310 
Julius   Ccesar,  223,  226,  234,  284, 
306 

Key,  establishing  a  normal,   191 ; 

practical  exercises  in,  205 
Kipling,  Rudyard,  235,  241 

Limits  of  the  conversational  mode, 

47 
Lincoln,   Abraham,    27,    36,    236, 
288,  310 


Literary  speech  topics,  35 
Locative  gestures,  99 
Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  213,  260 
Lungs,  function  of,  113 

Macbeth,  193,  308 

Manner,  public  and  private,  of  the 

speaker,  45  ;  upon  the  platform, 

69 
Mechanism,  the  vocal,  11 1 
Melody  of  speech,  188 
Merchant  of  Venice,  The,  264,  284 
Message  to    Garcia,  A,  by   Elbert 

Hubbard,  55 
Midsummer  Night'' s  Dream,  A,  239 
Mills,  Wesley,  no 
Ministerial  form  of  delivery,  47 
Ministerial  tone,  38,  50 
Misconceptions    of    speech     de- 
livery, 38 
Movement,  as   a   vocal   element, 

229 ;  rate  as  a  phase  of,  229 
Muscles,  function  of,  in  breathing, 

112 
Mtisic  the  Noblest  of  the  Arts,  by 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  265 

Napoleon,  Ingersoll's  speech  on, 
214 

Nicolay  and  Hay's  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, 27 

Notes  of  song  and  of  speech,  195; 
illustration  by  a  cut,  196 

Oral  practice  in  speech  prepara- 
tion, 26 

Orators,  lives  of,  as  a  speech 
topic,  36 

Originality  in  the  speech  develop- 
ment, 13  ^ 

Outline,  tentative,  16;  final,  19; 
main  divisions  of,  23 ;  visualiz- 
ing, 26;  oral  practice  of,  26; 
specimen  of,  29 

Overuse  of  the  same  kind  of 
gesture,  95 

Oxford  English  Dictionary,  176 

Pause,  as  a  speech  element,  217  ; 
rhetorical  and  grammatical,  219; 


332 


ELEMENTS  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 


within  a  phrase,  224  ;  two  essen- 
tials of,  225 ;  as  manifesting 
thought  relations,  225  ;  correla- 
tion of,  with  other  principles, 
226;  as  a  means  of  variety,  228 

Phillips,  A.  E.,  23 

Phillips,  Wendell,  43,  293 ;  ora- 
tory of,  as  a  type,  51 

Philosophy  of  Style,  by  Herbert 
Spencer,   144 

Phrasing,  true  foundation  of,  221  ; 
too  little,  222 ;  as  related  to 
speech  structure,  223 ;  subject 
to  change,  223 ;  clear  expres- 
sion by  means  of,  224 

Pitch  as  a  vocal  element,  187  ;  mel- 
ody, 188;  compass,  189;  point 
of  departure  in  the  study  of,  191 ; 
key,  192;  flexibility,  194 ;  skips 
and  glides  in,  201  ;  practical 
exercises  in,  205  ;  as  a  means  of 
emphasis,  302 

Plan  of  the  speech,  clearness  in, 
19;  comprehensiveness  in,  21; 
conciseness  in,  22 

Planning  the  speech,  i 

Platform  manners,  69 ;  movements 
as  related  to,  82 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  210 

Poise,  74 

Political  oratory,  42 

Position,  the  speaker's,  72 

Practical  exercises  in  outline-mak- 
ing, 27 

Practical  experiment  in  breath 
control,  120 

Practice  in  enunciation,  136 

Preacher's  cadence,  38 

Pronunciation,  defined,  143;  un- 
^  usual,  145;  best  usage  in,  146; 
sectional,  146;  English  versus 
American,  148;  proficiency  in, 
149;  four  essentials  of,  150; 
exercises  for  proficiency  in,  180 

Prose,  quantity  values  in,  214; 
rhythm  of,  236 

Proverbs,  the  book  of,  309 

Public  and  private  manner,  45 

Pulpit  oratory,  39 

Pulsford,  Reverend  Hanson,  41 


Quality,  foundation  of,  244 ;  as 
affected  by  disease,  245 ;  as 
influenced  by  habit,  246 ;  as  in- 
fluenced by  character,  247  ;  as 
affected  by  emotion,  248 ;  physi- 
ological basis  of,  250  ;  things  to 
avoid  in  the  use  of,  253  ;  true 
function  of,  254;  exercises  in, 
263 ;  as  a  means  of  emphasis, 

304 
Quantity  values,  in  speech,  210;  in 
prose,  214  ;  importance  of,  212 

Rapid  speaking,  230 
Rate,  as  a  speech  element,  229; 
deliberation  as  a  factor  of,  230 ; 
as  influenced  by  temperament, 
231 ;     determining    factors    of, 
231,  232  ;  as  a  means  of  securing 
variety,  233 
Reading,  value  of,  in  speech  prep- 
aration, 17 
Recited  mode  of  delivery,  47,  50 
Reserve  power  in  gesture,  93 
Rhythm,  as  a  vocal  principle,  234  ; 
used  to  impress  the  ear,  235  ;  of 
prose,  236;  practical  importance 
of,  238 
Ribs  and  muscles,  function  of,  112 
Riley,  James  Whitcomb,  264 

Sectional  pronunciation,  146 

Shakespeare,  193,  239,  240,  264, 
284,  306,  308,  311 

Shurter's  Rhetoric  of  Oratory,  23 

Social  topics  as  speech  material,  34 

Song  notes  in  speech,  195 

Speaker's  position,  72 

Specimen  outlines,  29 

Speech,  melody  of,  188;  quantity 
values  in,  210  ;  rhythm,  238 

Speech,  a,  object  of,  9;  general 
ends  of,  9;  analysis,  12;  theme, 
13;  plan  of,  19;  topics  for,  33 

Speech  subject,  the,  how  deter- 
mined, 4  ;  discrimination  in  the 
choice  of,  5  ;  steps  in  the  devel- 
opment of,  7  ;  analysis  of,  12; 
originality  and  development  of, 
13 ;  friendly  discussion  of,  18 


INDEX 


333 


Spencer,  Herbert,  144 
Stormonth's  Dictionary,  176 
Stump-speaker's  tone,  50 
Suggestions  to  Teachers,  313 
Suggestive  gestures,  96 
Suggestive  speech  topics,  33 
Syllabication  as  affecting  pronun- 
ciation, 150,  177 

Tact  and  Talent,  275 

Temperament  as  affecting  the  time 
elements  of  speech,  231 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  193,  212,  213, 
239»  265,  302 

Tentative  outline,  desirability  of, 
16 

Thanatopsis,  by  Bryant,  213 

Theme,  choice  of,  13 

Thomas,  President  M.  Gary,  242 

Thurston,  John  M.,  109,  283,  292 

Tidal  and  complemental  air,  118 

Time,  as  a  vocal  element,  209 ; 
quantity  as  related  to,  210; 
pause  as  related  to,  217  ;  move- 
ment as  related  to,  229  ;  rhythm 
as  related  to,  234  ;  practical  ex- 
ercises in,  239 ;  as  a  means  of 
emphasis,  303 

Tomb  of  Napoleon,  The,  by  Robert 
G.  IngersoU,  214 

Tone,  use  of  a  confidential,  192 

Tone  color,  251 

Topics  for  extempore  work,  33 

Trueblood,  Thomas  C,  52 


Unconversational  forms  of  deliv- 
ery, 47 

Usage  as  a  guide  in  pronunciation, 
146 

Variety,  by  means  of  pause,  228 ; 

by  rate,  233  ;  by  force,  275 
Vincent,  President,  231 
Visualizing  the  outline,  26 
Vocal  color,  why  voices  lack,  255; 
through    emotional    responses, 
257;  through  imagination,  258; 
through    expressive    literature, 
259  ;  through  extempore  speak- 
ing, 262 
Vocal  flexibility,  192,  194,  202 
Vocal  mechanism,  nature  of,  1 1 1 
Vocal  training  a  prerequisite  of 

emphasis,  299 
Voice,  the,  compass  of,  189  ;  false 
adjustments  of,  190  ;  the  Amer- 
ican, 191  ;  flexibility  of,  194 
Voltaire,  62 
Vowel  chart,  136 

Vowels  as  affecting  pronuncia- 
tion, 150 

Walking  movements,  82 

Wallace,  Lew,  226 

Webster,  Daniel,  243,  278,  282 

Writing,  importance  of,  in  speech 
analysis,  12  ;  value  of,  in  prepa- 
ration for  delivery,  26 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 


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